Austrian Airlines Flight Diverted to Bulgaria Due to Bomb Threat

An Austrian Airlines flight en route from Tel Aviv to Vienna made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday night following a bomb threat, according to Hebrew media.

Flight OS82, carrying 51 passengers and six crew members, landed safely at 8:42 p.m. local time. Lufthansa Group, the parent company of Austrian Airlines, confirmed the diversion and stated that the Airbus A320 was undergoing security checks. The company indicated that passengers would be rebooked onto alternative flights once the inspections were complete.

Preliminary information suggests the threat was called in to Austrian police by a Vienna resident, according to Israel's Channel 12 News. Israeli security officials were notified as investigators examined whether the threat was a hoax.

This incident follows a similar event on October 13, when a Delta Air Lines flight arriving in Tel Aviv from the United States was evacuated on a remote runway after an anonymous bomb threat. Airport operations eventually returned to normal, and all passengers disembarked safely.

In a separate incident on September 30, a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv experienced an attempted hijacking. The co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with an ax and intended to crash the aircraft into Ben-Gurion Airport's passenger terminal. The flight made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after the attacker was subdued by other crew members and passengers.