A Wizz Air flight from London to Sofia was diverted to Budapest on Monday after receiving a bomb threat, with a Hungarian fighter jet scrambled to escort the aircraft to landing.
The Airbus A321neo took off from London Luton Airport at 8.30am heading for Sofia. The flight U-turned over Bosnia and Herzegovina after the alert and sent an urgent request to land at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport.
Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said: “The plane received a bomb threat, which forced it to abort its flight, and the landing was secured by a Gripen fighter jet.” A Hungarian JAS 39 Gripen was deployed within minutes from the Kecskemét air base after NATO’s air defence readiness service issued an ALPHA alert.
The aircraft landed in Budapest at 12.08pm, according to Reuters. The fighter jet then returned to its base in Kecskemét, while police took over subsequent measures.
Wizz Air said authorities were carrying out a security inspection of the aircraft and the passengers, and a spokesperson for the airline said the plane landed safely. The incident caused a temporary closure of one runway at Budapest airport, with arriving and departing flights redirected to the airport’s other runway.
Whether anything was found during the security inspection has not been confirmed in the reports so far, and no injuries have been reported.
It is the second aviation emergency involving a London flight in two days: a British Airways flight to Majorca turned back to Gatwick on Sunday after a landing gear warning. London’s airports have also faced wider disruption recently, with flight delays at Heathrow and Stansted.
