Hungarian Fighter Jets Scramble After Israeli Arkia Jet Loses Contact With Air Traffic Control

Hungarian fighter jets were scrambled on Thursday after an Israeli Arkia passenger plane failed to establish contact with civilian air traffic controllers while flying through Hungarian airspace. NATO’s Combined Air Operations Centre then ordered the highest alert level in the country.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the defense forces launched two JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets to escort the Airbus A321, which was operating a scheduled flight from Tel Aviv to Prague, on NATO instructions. He said the Israeli aircraft did not respond to repeated attempts by civilian air traffic control to reach it.

According to Magyar, the fighter pilots quickly made contact with the Airbus crew, after which the passenger plane’s radio link with Hungarian air traffic control was restored. Following standard NATO air-policing procedures, the fighters accompanied the aircraft until it left Hungarian airspace at 20:10 and continued on its planned route toward Austria.

Magyar said Hungary’s air-policing service and NATO’s integrated air-defense system “operated efficiently” throughout the incident. Reports in Hungary said it was still unclear why the aircraft could not initially communicate with air traffic control. Officials noted that such incidents are relatively rare, but NATO air-policing missions routinely intercept and identify civilian or military aircraft that lose required communications.