A report of a possible explosive device on board prompted the diversion of an Austrian Airlines flight—en route from Tel Aviv to Vienna—to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on the 18th of October, reports Reuters.A search of the aircraft yielded no explosive device, and the flight subsequently continued its journey.The Bulgarian news agency BTA reported that the crew received a bomb threat as the aircraft approached the Romanian border. In response, the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets to escort the passenger plane to Sofia. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing an unnamed source, indicated that the threat had been reported by an Austrian citizen who was not on board the aircraft.On the 19th of October, Austrian Airlines confirmed that a bomb threat had been received, necessitating an emergency landing in Sofia. Searches of the aircraft, passengers, and crew members revealed that the threat was unfounded. The airline stated that there were 51 passengers and 6 crew members on board. According to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, an emergency landing was made by an Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which has a capacity of 180 seats.The incident occurred less than three weeks after a pilot on a FlyDubai flight to Israel attacked his co-pilot in an attempt to cause the plane to crash. The United Arab Emirates Public Prosecution reported that, on the 30th of September, the attacker attempted to take control of the aircraft in order to crash it into the passenger terminal at Tel Aviv airport.
Flight from Tel Aviv diverted to Bulgaria; no explosive device found
