The Israel Air Force has noted that the incident did not occur in or near Israeli airspace, and therefore they are not involved in the incident and were not required to act at this time.
An Austrian Airlines plane that took off from Ben-Gurion Airport to Vienna on Sunday night was diverted to Sofia, Bulgaria, following a suspected bomb threat, an Austrian Airlines spokesperson confirmed.
Flight OS82, an Airbus A320-214, departed Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv at about 7:04 p.m. A report of a suspected bomb on board was received shortly into the flight, near the Romanian-Bulgarian border. Following the alert, the captain declared an emergency by transmitting the international emergency transponder code, Squawk 7700, and diverted to Sofia Airport.
The aircraft landed safely in Sofia at approximately 7:42 p.m. local time. Emergency crews and security personnel were waiting at the airport, and passengers and crew were evacuated under the supervision of local security authorities.
All passengers and crew were safe and unharmed, an airport spokesperson said. The aircraft was moved to an isolated area, where bomb disposal teams and security personnel conducted searches in accordance with established procedures. No explosive device had been reported as found at that stage.
IAF emphasizes incident did not occur in or near Israeli airspace
The Israel Air Force has noted that the incident did not occur in or near Israeli airspace, and therefore they are not involved in the incident and were not required to act at this time.
Last week, two anonymous reports of bombs on Delta Airlines flights from New York to Israel were received, but both proved to be false.