Nightmare in the skies

Mid air scares targeting Indian airlines continued on Saturday, as at least 30 flights operated by Vistara, Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Star Air and Akasa Airlines were forced to make emergency landings after bomb threats, which later turned out to be hoaxes. So far this week, at least 70 flights of Indian carriers have received bomb threats, and all of them turned out to be hoaxes. The hoax threats comes right in the middle of festive season when a large number of Indians plan to fly.

Worried over increasing trends of bomb threat messages, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has called the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the airlines for a meeting to discuss ways to tackle the issue, which is causing inconvenience to passengers and losses to carriers.

According to officials, six flights against which bomb threats were made via social media made scheduled landings at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. These threats came from a single X account and were categorised as “hoax” and “non specific” after thorough checks, the official added. The account, of a user named ‘Adha’, mentioned flights of several airlines, though only six were scheduled to land at Mumbai international airport, the official said. These were from Delhi, Goa and Darbhanga.

Hoax bomb threats can wreak havoc on the Indian aviation sector since they are not easy to trace. Given the Khalistani threats to airlines, the government or airlines can’t take such calls lightly even if they think these to be hoax calls.

Notably, the spate of hoax bomb threats against Indian airlines has led to major financial repercussions, with airline officials estimating losses running into crores of rupees. According to Aviation Industry sources, the overall financial damage of the hoax, including costs for unscheduled landing, passenger accommodations, aircraft grounding, and crew replacements, is projected to exceed Rs 3 crore.

Top sources said more than 30 flights, including domestic and international ones, operated by domestic airlines have received bomb threats through social media since Saturday morning.

In at least one of the flights, a note was found in the lavatory saying there was a bomb in the flight.On Saturday, Vistara said five of its flights on international routes received security threats through social media while IndiGo said at least four of its flights got security-related alerts.

The five flights of Vistara are UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK027 (Mumbai to Frankfurt), UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore), UK121 (Delhi to Bangkok) and UK131 (Mumbai to Colombo). “Following the protocol, all relevant authorities were promptly alerted and all security procedures are being adhered to, as per the guidance from the authorities and security agencies,” an airline spokesperson said in a statement. Besides, there was a security concern regarding Vistara flight UK624 from Udaipur to Mumbai, and after landing, the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay for mandatory checks. A note was found in the lavatory of the aircraft saying there is a bomb in the flight, a source in the know said.

IndiGo also issued statements for at least five international flights with respect to the threats - 6E 11, 6E 17, 6E 58, 6E 108, and 6E 184. They are 6E17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E184 (Jodhpur to Delhi) and 6E108 (Hyderabad to Chandigarh).The airline said it is cognisant of a situation involving flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Istanbul.Regarding the Jodhpur to Delhi flight, the carrier said the plane landed in the national capital and customers have disembarked the aircraft.

About the Hyderabad to Chandigarh flight, IndiGo said that upon landing, the aircraft was isolated and all passengers were safely disembarked. Sources said that the plane was being checked at Chandigarh airport thoroughly by the airport authorities at the isolation bay. The Air India flight numbers AI 101, AI 105, AI 126, 119, and AI 161 were disrupted following the bomb scare.

A Star Air flight from Lucknow to Kishangarh received a bomb threat on Saturday afternoon, leading to heightened security measures at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (CCSI). According to a statement from the CCSI Airport spokesperson, the threat was received at 1:52 pm. The Airport’s Bomb Threat Assessment Committee immediately convened to assess the situation and implement necessary security protocols, it said.

Most of the hoax threat messages and calls are made using VPN which makes it difficult to trace them. Police have intensified their investigation into several hoax bomb threats targeted at domestic and international flights.The Civil Aviation Ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators in the no-fly list.