The Airbus A320 passenger plane, which earlier caused international alarm in the skies over the Balkans, successfully took off from Burgas Airport at midnight on July 1, 2026. The plane is expected to land at its final destination - Israel - at around 1:15 a.m.
The plane spent nearly seven hours on the runway at Burgas Airport. The boarding of the passengers and the inspection of the aircraft took place under enhanced security measures, during which time the 180 passengers and crew were provided with food and water.
Chronology of the incident
The charter flight, operated by the Bulgarian airline Electra Airways on behalf of the Polish national carrier LOT, took off from Warsaw for Tel Aviv at 12:30 Bulgarian time.
- 1:57 p.m. – The plane enters Bulgarian airspace over the Danube River. Shortly before this, NATO's Joint Air Operations Center in Torrejón detected that the plane's transponder was transmitting code 7500 – international hijacking or unlawful interference alert.
- Military Response – The Bulgarian Air Force immediately activated a MiG-29 fighter jet from the Graf Ignatievo airbase within the framework of the Air Policing mission. The Bulgarian pilot intercepted, visually inspected and escorted the aircraft to our southern border.
- International Circuit – At the Turkish border, the escort was taken over by two Turkish F-16 fighters. The passenger plane continues its route south, but subsequently receives landing refusal from Cyprus (due to heavy traffic) and from Israel due to the initial distress signal.
Reason for forced landing
After the threat was dismissed and it was confirmed that there was no real hijacking, the flight to Tel Aviv was terminated. At the request of the carrier airline, the plane was directed back to Bulgaria due to the crew's working hours having expired. MiG-29 fighters picked him up under escort for the second time and at 17:15 he made an emergency landing at Burgas Airport.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications officially confirmed that the crisis was caused by a technical malfunction in the plane's transponder, which emitted a false emergency code. A Crisis Headquarters was immediately summoned at Burgas Airport and a local emergency preparedness was declared, but the incident did not affect the remaining regular traffic at the airport.
Sources: BNT and bTV Novinite