European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aircraft lost all GPS navigation while approaching Plovdiv airport on Sunday, forcing pilots to land manually using paper charts after circling for nearly an hour.
EU officials told the Financial Times the disruption was “undeniable interference” and is being investigated as a suspected Russian sabotage operation. The incident, likely caused by GPS jamming or spoofing, disabled satellite navigation across the area.
Von der Leyen was en route from Warsaw on Luxaviation Falcon 900LX (registered OO-GPE) to meet Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zeliazkov and visit a defence plant. The episode has heightened Brussels’ concerns over growing Russian electronic warfare activity threatening aviation safety in Europe.
This post was published on 1 September 2025 17:33
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