Balgarianovinite.com A passenger flight bound for Israel made an emergency landing at Burgas Airport (on the Black Sea) on Tuesday after a false hijack alert from its faulty transponder.
In a press release, the Bulgarian Transport and Communications Ministry identified the civil aircraft as an Airbus A320, operating from Warsaw to Tel Aviv by Bulgarian carrier Electra Airways on behalf of LOT Polish Airlines. According to the Ministry, the flight was aborted at the carrier’s request, the aircraft was diverted back to Bulgaria and successfully made an emergency landing at Burgas Airport at 1715 hrs local time.
The reason was a technical failure of the airliner’s transponder that squawked an unlawful-interference or hijacking code. At the airport, the aircraft was parked according to safety protocol, far from the facility’s critical infrastructure. Interior Ministry authorities conducted the requisite checks. After a confirmation that no security threat was present on board, the Airbus left Bulgarian airspace via Turkey.
The press release pointed out that no passengers and crew members were hurt in the incident which did not affect scheduled traffic at Burgas Airport.
Earlier in the day, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry reported that the Bulgarian Air Force had responded to an alert about unlawful interference on board an Airbus A320, relayed by a NATO Combined Air Operations Centre.
At 1357 hrs local time, the civil aircraft entered Bulgarian airspace from the international border on the River Danube. There, the Airbus A320 was intercepted by a Bulgarian MiG-29 which was scrambled from the Third Air Base at Graf Ignatievo (South Central Bulgaria) at 1354 hrs as part of an air policing mission.
The Bulgarian pilot identified, challenged and escorted the aircraft across Bulgaria’s airspace.
The actions were carried out in close coordination with the Turkish Air Force, which also scrambled two F-16 fighters to take over the escort after the Airbus crossed the international border at 1414 hrs, the press release says.
Later on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry provided additional information, saying that after the airliner left Bulgarian airspace, the carrier requested its return and landing at a Bulgarian civil aircraft. The Bulgarian Air Force fighters were reactivated, and the aircraft was intercepted and escorted to Burgas Airport, where it landed.
Once the mission was accomplished, the fighter jets returned to their home base at Graf Ignatievo, the Ministry said.
In a related development, https://cyprus-mail.com reported that a passenger flight from Warsaw to Tel Aviv carrying 180 passengers sought permission to land in Cyprus on Tuesday after the pilot accidentally activated the aircraft’s hijack signal. Shortly afterwards, the captain informed air traffic controllers that the alert had been activated in error and that there was no incident affecting the safety of the aircraft, the website said. The captain reportedly requested permission to land at Paphos Airport, but the request was declined because the airport was unable to accommodate the aircraft due to increased traffic. Reports indicated that the aircraft subsequently turned back.
The same website quoted the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as saying that two fighter jets had been scrambled after receiving a report of a “lack of contact with the aircraft: and were deployed to intercept and escort the flight.
“The incident has been concluded,” the military reportedly said after communication with the aircraft was restored, adding there was “no fear of a security incident”.
Israeli security officials said there was no indication of a hijacking or terrorist act and attributed the alert to human error in the cockpit.
The emergency transponder code is used to indicate a hijacking. It automatically triggers international aviation security procedures, requiring an immediate response from civil aviation and defence authorities until the nature of the alert can be verified. Israel-Bound Passenger Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Burgas after Hijack Alert Error 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-06-30 15:04:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law