Hungarian fighter jets escort Israeli passenger plane after radio contact failure triggers NATO alert

NATO activated its highest air-defense alert level on Thursday after an Israeli passenger jet lost contact with air traffic control while flying over Hungary. The incident triggered a response from Hungarian forces, which scrambled fighter jets toward the aircraft as a precaution.

According to reports published Friday, the aircraft was an Airbus A321 operating a scheduled flight from Tel Aviv to Prague. Because it did not initially establish communication with air traffic controllers in Hungarian airspace, the situation caused concern inside NATO’s air operations system.

Hungary’s defense forces dispatched two JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets to escort the plane, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said in a statement on social media. The jets accompanied the Israeli aircraft until it left Hungarian airspace.

It was not immediately clear why the plane failed to contact air traffic control at first. The source did not report any damage or further incident beyond the escort response.