Buzz flight en route to London escorted by fighter jets after potential security issue

The plane landed safely and on time in London despite taking an alternative flight path

A Buzz flight en route to London was escorted by two German fighter jets after a potential security threat was reported to the crew.

The plane was flying from Sofia, Bulgaria, to London Stansted on Monday, 11 August.

Flight FR9962 took off from the Bulgarian capital at 9.30pm for a three-hour flight to London. The flight was operated by Buzz, a Polish airline that operates under the Ryanair Group.

However, around halfway into the journey, the Boeing 737 swerved from its flight path. Data from Flightradar shows that the plane made a sharp turn and skirted the border of the Czech Republic, before flying through Austria into Germany.

Previous flight paths for the same route show that the plane usually flies over Austria and into the Czech Republic, then into Germany.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communication said that the aircraft was denied entry into Czech airspace and rerouted via German airspace, where it was escorted by German Air Force fighter jets.

The Independent has contacted the Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic for comment.

In a statement to The Independent, Ryanair said: “Buzz, the Polish charter airline, was advised of a possible security issue on a Buzz flight FR9962 from Sofia to London Stansted on Monday, 11 August last.

“This issue was quickly resolved and de-escalated, which allowed the flight [to] continue on to London Stansted, where it landed on time, and passengers disembarked normally.”

The flight landed on time at Stansted, arriving at the airport at 10.28pm.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport and Communications told The Independent that the security issue related to a caller to the national emergency hotline alleging that a “Palestinian passenger on board Ryanair flight FR-9962 (Boeing 737), operating from Sofia to London Stansted with 174 people on board, intended to ‘do bad things.’”

It was later confirmed by a Border Police check that no Palestinian citizens were among the passengers.

The caller was identified as a Bulgarian citizen from Plodiv, and his “former wife and their two daughters were passengers on the flight”.

When the call was first reported to the national emergency hotline, the Coordination Centre at Sofia airport and the Air Traffic Management Authority were immediately informed.

“At the time of the report, the aircraft was already in Serbian airspace over the Novi Sad area, and the Air Traffic Management Authority in Serbia was notified.”

“The aircraft was denied entry into Czech airspace and rerouted via German airspace, where it was escorted by German Air Force fighter jets,” the ministry spokesperson confirmed.

“No security-related incidents were recorded in the past 24 hours on the territory of Sofia airport,” they added.

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