Passengers on Wizz Air flight W64302 from London Luton to Sofia reached the Bulgarian capital after spending several hours at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt airport. Most of the dozens on board were Bulgarians.
The plane left its route and asked to land in Budapest, Hungarian defence minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook earlier today. A Hungarian Gripen fighter jet accompanied it.
See also: Hungarian Gripen escorts Sofia-bound plane to Budapest after bomb threat
The threat came in an email sent to institutions, media and private individuals. It claims this flight, "full of Bulgarians", would be blown up. The message is signed in the name of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is designated a terrorist organisation. It was sent from the address of a private Christian boarding school in Rwanda.
Two hours after take-off, passengers were told the plane would make an emergency landing in Budapest. They were told there was a technical problem and they had to get off quickly.
When the plane entered Hungarian airspace, Hungary declared a first-level alert and the defence minister at once ordered the "Alpha" procedure. One passenger said the fighter jet could be seen in the distance.
Many fire engines, ambulances and police officers waited at the airport. Passengers were taken off quickly, scanned and searched, then put in a terminal room while the plane was checked. Wizz Air gave them food, water and baby food. One woman on board said the evacuation was very well organised and quick.
"No bomb was found on board," Andras Rado, head of corporate communications at Wizz Air, told Bulgarian National Television (BNT). He said the airline received a bomb warning, followed its protocol and diverted the plane to Budapest so it could land quickly and safely and local authorities could check it.
The Bulgarian Aviation Industry Association says all procedures were followed. Todor Ivandzhikov of the association told BNT that an escort is a mandatory precaution. It is not clear whether the warning was false. A terrorist could be on board, take over the controls and fly the plane at a target. So when a threat comes in, a fighter jet is sent up at once to make visual contact with the plane and reach the crew. A bomb threat triggers code 7700.
The association calls this the second such case in a month and says such incidents are costly. Ivandzhikov links the rise in false bomb threats to hybrid war. "The whole hybrid war and all these threats are increasingly reaching aviation," he told BNT.