Tel Aviv-Vienna flight gets bomb threat, makes emergency landing in Bulgaria

The threat was made against flight OS82, a spokesperson for Austrian Airlines said. The aircraft landed safely, they added.Representative photo. Credits: ReutersNew Delhi,Oct 19, 2026 07:12 ISTAn Austrian Airlines flight flying from Tel Aviv in Israel to the Austrian capital of Vienna made an emergency landing in Bulgaria's Sofia following a bomb threat, the airline said.The threat was made against flight OS82, a spokesperson for Austrian Airlines said. The aircraft landed safely, they added.According to preliminary details released by Bulgaria's transport ministry and cited by Sky News, there were 57 people on board, including 51 passengers and six crew members."During the flight, on the border with Romania, the crew reported a bomb threat signal and decided to land in Sofia extraordinarily," the ministry said in a statement. An Air Force fighter escorted the aircraft until it landed in Sofia, the ministry added. The passengers were subsequently deplaned, it said further.This comes less than three weeks after a mid-air terror plot was successfully thwarted on a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30. Captain Smit Machchar, an Indian national, has received global praise for saving the flight even after being attacked with a crash axe by his Omani co-pilot, who was supposedly attempting to crash the aircraft.Despite being severely wounded in the attack, he managed to open the cockpit door and call for help, thus allowing passengers to subdue the attacker.A reserve crew that had been aboard landed the plane, which had more than 170 people on board, at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia.The flydubai flight, FZ1073, plunged more than 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds while flying over the Islamic kingdom during its journey from the United Aarab Emirates (UAE) to Israel, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.- Ends