Ryanair pilots hear military intercept warning in radio audio

Euronews' clip explains why the Stansted-Sofia flight was diverted to Plovdiv after a reported bomb threat.

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euronews Story of November 7, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 46,450 views a day, 28 times a normal first day on this channel (1,656).

Audio reveals moment Ryanair pilots are told military aircraft is intercepting them

Sofia was already handling other threatened aircraft when air traffic control told a Ryanair crew to prepare for a different destination. Then came the warning that a military aircraft would follow them into Bulgarian airspace.

Euronews' radio clip follows the exchange with a flight from London Stansted bound for Sofia, diverted to Plovdiv after a reported bomb threat on board. The pilot confirms that the airline had already informed the crew of the possible threat.

The controller explains that two other aircraft with reported threats have landed in Sofia and are being processed. "Sofia airport does not have the capacity to process some other aircraft, hence you are being redirected to Plovdiv."

Later, control tells the crew that the intercepting military aircraft is about four miles behind them. The pilot acknowledges the message with a brief "Alright." The clip presents the voices over an image of a Ryanair aircraft, rather than footage of the interception itself.

The upload drew about 41,000 views in its first 18 hours, already far above the usual first-day audience for a Euronews Short. A separate report, "Bomb threats continue to target aircrafts across Europe", also drew an unusually large audience, covering further incidents after Thursday's wave of flight bomb scares.