RuAviation

The Bulgarian government has declined to launch an investigation into the reported GPS signal disruption affecting the aircraft carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov stated that GPS interference is a daily occurrence for flight crews operating business jets and does not constitute a hybrid or cyber threat. In such cases, crews routinely switch to conventional instrument navigation, rendering a formal investigation unnecessary.

Zhelyazkov emphasized that the interference was not targeted at any specific aircraft but was part of electronic warfare activity commonly observed in military conflict zones. He noted that such disruptions have become routine in the current geopolitical climate, and there is no basis for a separate inquiry. Bulgaria continues to operate in accordance with established air traffic management protocols.

The incident occurred on August 31 during the approach to Plovdiv Airport. According to the Financial Times, a GPS outage affected the entire airport area, forcing the flight crew to rely on paper charts. Bulgarian authorities initially linked the disruption to possible Russian interference, which the Kremlin has denied.

Flight tracking service Flightradar24 refuted reports of GPS failure aboard von der Leyen’s aircraft. Transponder data analysis confirmed a stable GPS signal throughout the flight. “We can confidently state that the quality and consistency of navigational data remained high from departure to landing,” Flightradar24 reported.

Nevertheless, the Financial Times, citing European Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, reported that the aircraft experienced an electronic navigation system failure during the approach to Plovdiv, requiring the crew to use paper charts. The publication suggested that Russian interference may have disabled GPS services on board, preventing the aircraft from landing as scheduled.

“The pilot circled over Plovdiv Airport for approximately one hour before opting for a manual landing using analog charts. GPS was unavailable throughout the airport zone due to interference, which was attributed to Russian activity,” the Financial Times wrote.

EU governments have warned that the increasing frequency of GPS interference, allegedly linked to Russia, could lead to a major aviation accident by effectively blinding commercial aircraft in flight. In reality, the flight was only nine minutes longer than scheduled—1 hour 57 minutes instead of 1 hour 48 minutes. The reason for the extended flight time was not disclosed.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the GPS disruption affecting von der Leyen’s aircraft. “Your information is incorrect,” stated Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, in comments to the British press.