Austrian Airlines flight from Tel Aviv diverts to Bulgaria after ‘threat’

VIENNA — A bomb threat forced an Austrian Airlines flight carrying 57 people from Tel Aviv to Vienna to divert to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, late on Sunday, though a search found no danger, the airline and Bulgaria’s BTA news agency said. “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 in a statement Monday. “During the search of the affected aircraft, the passengers, and the crew, no danger was identified,” it said, adding that the flight continued from Sofia to Vienna with all passengers after reboarding. BTA said the flight’s crew reported receiving a bomb threat when the aircraft was approaching the Romanian border, and the Bulgarian Air Force scrambled MiG-29 fighter jets. The Lufthansa Group, which owns Austrian Airlines, Vienna Airport and the Austrian interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment. The Austrian and Bulgarian interior ministers were due to hold a previously scheduled news conference in Vienna later on Monday at 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). The incident came less than three weeks after a co-pilot on an Israel-bound flydubai jet allegedly attacked the captain with an ax in an attempt to crash the plane. The UAE attorney general said last week that an Omani flydubai co-pilot had intended to seize the Sept. 30 Dubai-Tel Aviv flight and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in a suicide attack, before he was thwarted by the captain.