An Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 was escorted by a Bulgarian Air Force MiG-29 fighter and diverted to Sofia on October 18 after a bomb threat during a flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna.
Flight OS82 departed Tel Aviv at 6:49 p.m. local time with 51 passengers and six crew members. The threat was reported as the aircraft approached the Romanian border, prompting the crew to divert south toward the Bulgarian capital.
Bulgaria activated its Air Policing forces in coordination with NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre in Torrejón, Spain. MiG-29 fighters were scrambled and escorted the passenger aircraft until it landed in Sofia.
The aircraft involved was OE-LZE, a 13-year-old Airbus A320-214 with manufacturer serial number 5754. AirNav Radar recorded its arrival in Sofia at 8:44 p.m. CEST, two minutes later than the time provided by Austrian Airlines.
Follow Air Data News: WhatsApp | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft while Bulgarian authorities searched the A320 and carried out security checks. No explosive device or other threat was found.
Austrian Airlines initially said the passengers would be rebooked, but the same aircraft eventually resumed the interrupted flight with everyone back on board. AirNav Radar data shows OE-LZE departing Sofia at 2:43 a.m. local time on October 19, about six hours after arriving there.
The A320 landed in Vienna at 3:12 a.m. local time, completing OS82 after the overnight interruption. The aircraft returned to regular service shortly afterwards, departing Vienna again at 7:31 a.m. on another scheduled flight.
