Bomb threat sends plane with 57 people to Sofia, escorted by a MiG-29

An Austrian Airlines plane was flying from Tel Aviv to Vienna on Sunday evening when the crew received a bomb threat warning near the Bulgarian-Romanian border. It decided on an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgarian authorities said. The Airbus A320 carried 51 passengers and six crew members.

The Bulgarian air force sent a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the plane. Delo reports that the platform ADS-B Exchange detected the code 7700, which signals a general emergency, during the diversion. According to Flightradar24, the plane turned towards Sofia at 21.25. It landed approximately three hours after takeoff, and the Bulgarian transport ministry said the passengers were evacuated and a thorough inspection was announced.

Israeli media were the first to report the threat. According to the newspaper Haaretz, it was reportedly made by an Austrian citizen who was not on board.

After inspecting the plane, passengers and crew, the airline said no danger was found. The Austrian radio station Ö3 reported at around four in the morning that the plane had already landed in Vienna at around half past three. Austrian Airlines said all passengers and crew members had flown to Vienna.

After the landing in Sofia, the airline announced replacement flights:

"Once the inspection of the aircraft is complete, we will rebook passengers onto replacement flights as soon as possible." (translated)

The story is not an isolated one. According to the Jerusalem Post, two Delta Air Lines planes were targeted by bomb threats on Tuesday, and both threats turned out to be false. Last month, on a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, a pilot tried to hijack the plane and attacked the captain before passengers and crew overpowered him. The plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia. Last week, Croatia and Germany sent warplanes into the air when a passenger plane from Corfu to Nuremberg inadvertently triggered a hijack alarm.