Austrian Airlines A320 Diverts to Sofia After Bomb Threat, Escorted by MiG-29 Fighters

An Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 diverted to Sofia following a bomb threat on Sunday, 18 October 2026, subsequently continued to Vienna with all its passengers aboard. Searches of the aircraft, passengers and crew found no danger. The alert had prompted Bulgarian MiG-29 fighter jets to escort flight OS82, interrupting its journey from Tel Aviv to the Austrian capital.

As the aircraft approached the Romanian border, the crew reported the threat and decided to divert to Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport, according to Bulgarian authorities. The air force scrambled MiG-29 fighters to accompany the airliner to landing. The escort was part of established air policing procedures, through which military aircraft monitor and assist civilian flights facing a potential security threat.

There were 51 passengers and six crew members on board. Passengers disembarked in Bulgaria while security teams carried out their inspections. On Monday, 19 October, Austrian Airlines confirmed that searches of the aircraft, passengers and crew had identified no danger. The passengers reboarded, and the flight continued to Vienna overnight into Monday, 19 October.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 and AirNav Radar identify the aircraft operating OS82 on 18 October as an Airbus A320-214 registered OE-LZE. The archive photograph at the top of this article shows that aircraft in Berlin in March 2026, not during the diversion to Sofia.

Austrian authorities investigate the source of the threat

Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, said the threat had been made by telephone to Vienna Airport. Austrian authorities are investigating the origin of the call. The minister did not disclose further details of the investigation.

Updated 20 October 2026, Paris time.