Bomb threat forces Austrian Tel Aviv-Vienna flight to land in Bulgaria

• A bomb threat forced Austrian Airlines flight OS82 from Tel Aviv to divert to Sofia with 57 people on board, according to the airline and Bulgaria’s BTA news agency.
• A search of the aircraft, passengers and crew found no danger, and the flight later continued to Vienna after everyone reboarded.
• Bulgaria scrambled MiG-29 jets, and the scare came after a recent flydubai incident linked to an alleged suicide attack plan on an Israel-bound flight.

VIENNA – A bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna to divert to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, late on Oct 18, though a search found nothing dangerous so the plane took off again and flew onwards, the airline and Bulgaria’s BTA news agency said.

BTA said the flight’s crew reported receiving a bomb threat when the aircraft was approaching the Romanian border, and the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the threat was “called in by an Austrian national who was not on board”, without identifying its source.

“We confirm that there was a threat against flight OS82 on October 18, 2026, from Tel Aviv to Vienna (TLV to VIE), which made it necessary for the flight to make an intermediate landing in Sofia (SOF),” the airline said in a statement on Oct 19.

“During the search of the affected aircraft, the passengers, and the crew, no danger was identified,” it said, adding that the flight continued from Sofia to Vienna with all passengers after reboarding.

The plane was carrying 51 passengers and six crew, Austrian said. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 said it was an Airbus A320-200 series aircraft, which Austrian’s website says has a capacity of up to 180 seats.

Vienna Airport, the Austrian interior ministry and the Lufthansa Group, which owns Austrian Airlines, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Austrian and Bulgarian interior ministers were due to hold a previously scheduled press conference in Vienna later on Oct 19 at 11am local time.

The incident took place less than three weeks after a co-pilot on an Israel-bound flydubai jet allegedly attacked the captain with an axe in an attempt to crash the plane.

The UAE attorney-general said last week that an Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended to seize the Sept 30 Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack, before he was thwarted by the captain. REUTERS