Multiple bomb threats continued to disrupt airline operations in the country for the third consecutive day. Eight flights, four of IndiGo, two of SpiceJet and one of Akasa Air, received bomb threats on Wednesday, leading to long delays and diversions. All the threats turned out to be hoaxes. However, there was panic amongst air passengers. It is not clear what triggered the sudden surge in hoax bomb threats since Monday.

The threat message to IndiGo was the 19th confirmed instance of a bomb threat to an Indian carrier’s flight over the past 48 hours. Worried over a trend of surge in hoax bomb threat messages, Delhi Police has registered seven FIRs at Indira Gandhi International Airport, in connection with bomb threats to several domestic and international flights in the last two days and launched a probe into the matter.

According to sources, top officials of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), National Investigation Agency (NIA),  Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Wednesday met to discuss the bomb threats received by airlines. The authorities are also planning putting the hoax callers on ‘no-fly list’ and increasing the number of air marshals on flights.

A unit of National Security Guard (NSG) commandos is deployed as air marshals mainly on international routes and some sensitive domestic routes. Sky marshals are armed plain clothes security officers who travel on passenger planes.

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu on Wednesday said the government is closely monitoring the situation due to bomb threats to flights and asserted that all necessary measures are taken against such activities.

Strongly condemning the recent bomb threats to Indian carriers, the minister said the Mumbai police have arrested a minor responsible for issuing bomb threats to three flights and that others responsible for disruptions will be identified and prosecuted. The law enforcement agencies are pursuing all cases actively, he said.

In less than 24 hours, nine flights received bomb threats and the total count has climbed to at least 19 in three days. The threats have turned out to be hoaxes. On Wednesday, bomb threats were received by four IndiGo flights, two SpiceJet flights and one flight of Akasa Air.

On Tuesday late at night, one flight each of Vistara and Air India Express had received the threats. IndiGo received bomb threats for three flights, including the Riyadh-Mumbai flight 6E 74 that was diverted to Muscat (Oman). “The aircraft has been isolated, and all passengers have been safely disembarked,” an airline spokesperson said in a statement.  Another flight 6E 1011 from Mumbai to Singapore received a security-related alert and the flight landed at Singapore. 

Also, IndiGo’s flight 6E 515, operating from Chennai to Lucknow, received a security-related alert. After landing at Lucknow, the aircraft was positioned at an isolated bay and all passengers have been safely disembarked. Meanwhile, late on Tuesday, a Mumbai-bound IndiGo flight from the national capital was diverted to Ahmedabad after a bomb threat. An Akasa Air flight enroute to Bengaluru returned to Delhi on Wednesday afternoon following a bomb threat.

Earlier, three international flights, one of Air India and two of IndiGo, had received bomb threats on Monday, while another nine flights spanning across all major carriers had received threats on Tuesday. All the threats came via social media platforms, and eventually turned out to be fake.

This prompted Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)to seek a report from Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) on bomb threats that have been received recently, disrupting services.

The issue of multiple hoax threat messages to various airlines came up before a parliamentary committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture where Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam cited the sensitivity of information due to the ongoing probe into the matter to decline to share more details.

Notably, most bomb threats turn out to be fake, the security checks, which often take a few hours, result in disruptions like delays and even rescheduling of the remainder of the flight in some cases, which hit the airlines financially. On getting a threat like this airports/aircraft, passengers are off-loaded from the plane along with cabin baggage, check-in baggage and cargo, and they are all screened again. Engineering and security teams also search the plane before it is cleared for flying again.

In the latest incident, a Delhi-bound IndiGo aircraft from Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad after receiving a bomb threat, which later turned out to be a hoax. The aircraft was isolated, and all passengers were safely disembarked. After a thorough checking, nothing suspicious was found and the flight took-off for Delhi on Wednesday morning.

Soon after the flight took-off from Mumbai on Tuesday night, an unidentified person, through a tweet, claimed a bomb had been placed in the aircraft which was carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew, an official from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport here said. After being alerted by the Mumbai ATC, the pilots decided to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport, which was the closest airport when the flight was en-route to Delhi, said the official. “After landing here during midnight, the aircraft, carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew, was thoroughly checked by the security agencies overnight. However, nothing suspicious was found.

The flight took-off for Delhi at around 8 am today after getting a green signal from the security personnel,” the official said. In a statement, IndiGo said flight 6E 651, operating from Mumbai to Delhi, was redirected to Ahmedabad due to a “security-related alert”.

In another incident, no bomb was found aboard an Air India Express plane which landed in Singapore more than an hour after its scheduled arrival time. A Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight with more than 180 people on board returned to the National Capital on Wednesday afternoon following a bomb threat. Sources said the flight QP1335 landed safely at the Delhi airport.

Meanwhile  the Canadian Air Force aircraft is ferrying 191 stranded passengers of an Air India flight from Iqaluit airport, landed safely  in Chicago.

Intelligence sources said most of the social media accounts that issued the hoax bomb threats to airlines were found to be operating from outside the country and were immediately suspended. Cyber security agencies are also on alert and are tracking social media accounts that are linked to these false threats.