An Air India jet in Lido Beach, New York, September 2023. The airline was one of many to receive hoax bomb threats over the past week. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Hide Caption
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In recent days, a surge in fake bomb threats has caused major disruption to travel for passengers on major Indian airlines.
Indian media reported on Monday that there had been 100 threats against flights in the past week. The threat was a hoax, but it forced airlines to change routes, delay flights and implement costly safety measures.
“Despite the false threats, we cannot take the situation seriously,” Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, India’s civil aviation minister, told reporters on Monday. He said that even though most threats turn out to be fake, airlines and authorities have strict security protocols that they are required to follow whenever they receive a threat.
Mr Naidu said eight flights had been diverted in the past week. He added that authorities have increased security at the airport and are using closed-circuit cameras to monitor the airport more closely.
In one case, an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago crash-landed at Iqaluit Airport in northeastern Canada on October 15, forcing the plane and its passengers to go through security checks. 211 passengers were stranded because the airport did not have the resources to carry out the necessary explosive detection. It was 18 hours later that the Royal Canadian Air Force finally transported them to Chicago.
On Thursday, an Air India flight from Mumbai to London was intercepted by the Royal Air Force after receiving a bomb threat. The aircraft flew in a holding pattern for 30 minutes before being cleared to land, according to flight tracking website Flightradar 24.
The airline said a Vistara flight from Delhi to London was diverted to Frankfurt on Friday. And on Sunday, a Vistara flight from Delhi to Frankfurt had to turn around and land in Delhi. According to Indian media, both incidents were the result of bomb threats.
“Strict action will be taken against false threats as security remains our top priority. Those who threaten security will face serious consequences,” Naidu said in a statement.
The Minister of Civil Aviation told reporters that his ministry is advocating changes to regulations and laws to stiffen penalties for making bomb threats.
“Once we catch the culprits behind this incident, we want to put them on the no-fly list,” he said.
Many of the bomb threats are made by anonymous X accounts.
