No GPS signal jamming was detected on the aircraft carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said Deputy Premier and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov in an interview with bTV, quoted by BTA. He confirmed that in a leaked conversation between the plane’s pilot and the control tower, the pilot mentions "some problems with the GPS".

''Neither the Bulgarian Civil Aviation nor the Air Forces in Sofia and Plovdiv, nor even the recordings of the Communications Regulation Commission, show any drop in the GPS signal'', said Minister Karadjov.

Grozdan Karadjov was adamant that no one from the Bulgarian government has misled anyone at the European Commission and denied that there had been communication between Sofia and Brussels on the matter.

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The systems onboard the aircraft were fully operational, the flight was continuously monitored by the Bulgarian Air Traffic Services Authority, and the plane remained visible to airspace surveillance systems, said Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.

In his words, the delay of the flight was approximately 5 minutes, which is within the permissible limit. Rosen Zhelyazkov added that no reports of interference were received from other aircraft flying in the area.

Published and translated by Kostadin Atanasov

Photo: BTA