Wizz Air Flight Diverts to Budapest After Bomb Threat; Checks Find Nothing

A Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Sofia diverted to Budapest on Monday after the airline received a bomb threat, and security checks of the aircraft found nothing.

Flight 4302 departed Luton at 8:33 a.m. GMT and was due in the Bulgarian capital in the early afternoon. Instead, the plane made an emergency landing at Budapest's Ferenc Liszt International Airport at about 11:09 a.m. GMT (6:09 a.m. Eastern), escorted by a Hungarian Air Force Gripen fighter jet. Hungary's defense minister, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendis, confirmed his country provided the escort.

After landing, the plane taxied to a designated stand, where passengers were taken off while Hungarian authorities inspected the aircraft and luggage. Wizz Air said the inspection was "completed and nothing was found," and that the plane would depart again shortly to continue to Sofia. The onward departure had not been confirmed as of late morning Eastern time.

The airline said the safety of passengers and crew is its top priority and apologized for the disruption.

(File photo: A Wizz Air Airbus A320 departing London Luton in 2007. The aircraft pictured is not the plane involved in Monday's incident. Photo: Adrian Pingstone, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)