Hungarian fighters were scrambled after a passenger plane flying from Tel Aviv to Prague stopped responding to air traffic controllers. NATO declared the highest level of readiness.
The NATO Combined Air Operations Centre announced the highest level of readiness on Thursday following an incident involving an Israeli passenger plane that lost communication with air traffic control. This was reported by Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Szijjarto on his Facebook page.
According to bb.lv, citing polsatnews.
According to Hungarian authorities, a passenger Airbus A321 flying from Tel Aviv to Prague failed to respond to air traffic controllers' requests at one point. As a result, a decision was made to scramble two JAS-39 Gripen fighters from the Hungarian Air Force.
After takeoff, the military pilots established visual contact with the passenger aircraft and were then able to restore radio communication between the aircraft's crew and the Hungarian air traffic management service.
In accordance with NATO procedures, the fighters escorted the Airbus to the border of Hungarian airspace. After 20:10, the aircraft left Hungarian territory and continued its flight towards Austria.
After completing the mission, both fighters safely returned to the airbase in Kecskemét, located in the central part of the country.
The Hungarian Prime Minister noted that the incident confirmed the effectiveness of the national air force and the integrated NATO air defense system.
Although the incident ended without any consequences for the passengers and crew, the situation demonstrated NATO's readiness to respond promptly to any loss of communication with civilian aircraft. Such measures are considered standard practice to ensure the safety of the airspace of alliance countries.
