Hungarian fighter jets were scrambled last Thursday toward an Arkia Israeli passenger plane after it failed to establish contact with civilian air traffic controllers while flying in Hungarian airspace.
Following the incident, NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre ordered the highest level of readiness in the country.
Hungary's Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, said his country's defense forces scrambled two JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets toward the Israeli Airbus A321 on regular flight IZ-281 from Tel Aviv to Prague, and said the jets were scrambled under orders from NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre.
Magyar said the Israeli plane did not respond to attempts by civilian air traffic control to contact it, but the pilots of the scrambled fighters succeeded shortly in establishing contact with the Airbus crew. Radio contact between the plane and Hungarian air traffic control was then also restored.
Arkia said, "The flight crew operated according to the approved flight plan and the pre-determined air routes. At a certain point during the flight, contact between the aircraft and the Hungarian air traffic control unit was lost. To the best of our understanding, following the loss of contact, Hungarian authorities decided to deploy a military aircraft that approached the plane, and as a result contact with the flight crew was restored."
"The incident is subject to an internal investigation by the company, which will examine the circumstances also with the authorities in Hungary. The aircraft continued its flight as planned and landed safely at its destination. We emphasize that at no point during the flight was there any danger to the aircraft, the passengers, or the crew."