Bomb hoaxes: 30 flights receive threats late on Monday, at least 3 diverted

“Flight 6E77, operating from Bengaluru to Jeddah, was redirected to Doha owed to a security-related alert. The craft was isolated, and each passengers were safely disembarked… We are moving intimately with the applicable authorities, and mandated checks are presently underway,” IndiGo said successful a statement. The hose issued akin statements for 2 different flights that had to beryllium diverted–6E65 (Kozhikode-Jeddah diverted to Riyadh) and 6E63 (Delhi-Jeddah diverted to Medina).

The other IndiGo flights that received weaponry threats included 6E164 (Mangaluru-Mumbai), 6E75 (Ahmedabad to Jeddah), 6E118 (Lucknow-Pune), 6E67 (Hyderabad-Jeddah), 6E18 (Istanbul-Mumbai), 6E83 (Delhi-Dammam), and 6E12 (Istanbul-Delhi). Except for the 3 diversions, each different flights landed astatine their intended destinations, wherever the requisite information protocols followed and passengers disembarked safely, according to the airline.

Tata radical airlines Air India and Vistara confirmed that immoderate of their flights received threats precocious Monday, but did not springiness the details of the affected flights. According to sources successful the know, they received threats for 10 flights each.

“We corroborate that immoderate Air India flights operating connected 21 October 2024 were taxable to hoax information threats received connected societal media. Following the laid down protocols, applicable authorities were instantly alerted, and each information procedures strictly adhered to, arsenic per guidance from the regulatory authorities and information agencies. All the flights person landed safely,” an Air India spokesperson said.

“We corroborate that a fewer of Vistara’s flights operating connected 21 October 2024 received information threats connected societal media. We instantly alerted the applicable authorities and are pursuing each information procedures arsenic directed by them,” a Vistara spokesperson said.

Indian airlines person been deed by a spate of weaponry hoaxes since past Monday. Most of the weaponry threats person travel from anonymous and unverified societal media accounts. The threats person sent the airlines, airports, and information agencies into a tizzy, and person forced a fewer formation diversions and strict post-landing information checks and screenings successful a fig of cases.

In a bulk of the cases, the societal media accounts that posted the threats were acceptable up lone recently, and were suspended by X aft the threats. In immoderate cases, the threats were issued for flights that had already been operated for the time oregon were not scheduled to operate.

Although astir weaponry threats crook retired to beryllium fake, airlines arsenic good arsenic aviation authorities globally instrumentality them with utmost seriousness. The post-landing information checks, which often instrumentality a fewer hours, effect successful disruptions similar delays and adjacent rescheduling of the remainder of the formation successful immoderate cases, which deed the airlines financially.

The authorities plans to instrumentality legislative enactment to woody with fake weaponry threats to craft and marque the punishments harsher to deter pranksters from posting specified threats. Among the moves successful the works are changes to the Aircraft Security Rules—which would let culprits to beryllium banned from flying—and amendments to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation (SUASCA) Act, 1982, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said Monday.

The applicable authorities ministries—including the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)—and agencies person gone into a huddle successful presumption of these weaponry threats. Naidu said that his ministry, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and the MHA and its agencies are moving successful adjacent coordination to woody with the spate of threats.

Security has been enhanced astatine assorted airports with the fig of information checks astatine assorted checkpoints being increased. This is being done to beryllium doubly definite that nary suspected articles are carried connected committee the aircraft.