Austrian Airlines Flight From Israel Makes Emergency Landing In Bulgaria Over Bomb Threat | Sahara Reporters

Austrian Airlines confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday, saying the threat forced the flight to make an unscheduled landing in the Bulgarian capital.

An Austrian Airlines flight carrying 57 people from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Vienna, Austria, made an emergency landing in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday, after a bomb threat was reported near the Romanian border.

The incident involved flight OS82, an Airbus A320 carrying 51 passengers and six crew members.

According to a report by Gulf Business, the aircraft diverted to Sofia after the crew received a bomb threat signal while approaching the Romanian border.

Austrian Airlines confirmed the incident in a statement on Monday, saying the threat forced the flight to make an unscheduled landing in the Bulgarian capital.

“We confirm that there was a threat against flight OS82 on October 18, 2026, from Tel Aviv to Vienna (TLV to VIE), which made it necessary for the flight to make an intermediate landing in Sofia (SOF),” the airline said.

The airline said security personnel searched the aircraft and checked the passengers and crew but found no danger. All passengers subsequently reboarded the aircraft, which continued its journey from Sofia to Vienna.

Bulgaria’s BTA news agency reported that the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets after the crew reported the threat. The aircraft was diverted as a precaution while authorities responded to the security alert.

The incident comes less than three weeks after a co-pilot on a Flydubai flight bound for Israel allegedly attacked the captain with an axe in an attempt to crash the aircraft.

The United Arab Emirates attorney general said the Omani co-pilot intended to seize control of the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. The captain reportedly thwarted the alleged attempt.

The Austrian Airlines incident adds to recent aviation security concerns involving flights travelling to and from Israel. Although the search found no danger aboard flight OS82, the emergency diversion prompted a security response in Bulgaria before the aircraft resumed its journey.

On September 30, 2026, a catastrophic disaster was narrowly averted aboard Flydubai Flight 1073, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv carrying 174 passengers, many of whom were Israeli citizens.

The incident, which authorities are treating as an attempted suicide terror attack, involved an unprecedented inside threat where the co-pilot attacked the captain and tried to crash the plane.

While the aircraft was cruising in Saudi Arabian/Jordanian airspace, the 29-year-old Omani co-pilot, Hamam al-Hammami, suddenly attacked the flight captain, Smit Machchhar, who is an Indian national. He struck him over the head with the cockpit’s emergency crash axe.

Al-Hammami then barricaded himself in the cockpit, smashed flight instruments, and pushed the yoke forward to intentionally plunge the aircraft. The jetliner went into a violent nose-dive, dropping roughly 14,000 to 17,000 feet in under a minute, causing severe panic in the cabin and structural damage to the aircraft’s rudder due to overspeeding.

Despite suffering severe head injuries and bleeding heavily, Captain Machchhar fought back and managed to unlock the cockpit door to scream for help.

Hearing the screams and feeling the plane dive, an Israeli passenger named Yaniv Hayoun, a plumber and a crew member burst into the cockpit. Hayoun placed the co-pilot in a chokehold and dragged him away from the instrument panel.

Hayoun grabbed the flight controls to help level the plane out of its dive. Another Israeli passenger, dentist Dr. Shota Musaev, rushed forward to bind the attacker and administer emergency medical treatment to the bleeding captain.

Fortuitously, two off-duty Flydubai pilots were traveling as passengers on the flight. They stepped into the cockpit, took over the damaged controls, and safely executed an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

The Omani co-pilot was immediately taken into custody by Saudi authorities. Shaken passengers were later flown safely back to Israel.