A Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight with 111 people on board was on Monday grounded minutes before take-off from the IGI Airport after a bomb threat.
The flight 9W 260 was cleared for takeoff in the evening after five hours only when the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee found that the bomb threat was a hoax.
This is the second incident in the last two days as on Saturday a GoAir flight from Bhubaneshwar for Mumbai was diverted to Nagpur for similar reasons.
The bomb threat call was received by an anonymous caller at the airport terminal just before the scheduled departure time of 1.25 pm of the Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight, officials said.
The caller said there was a ‘gift box’ on seat 18 and he ended the call saying Happy Republic Day, said officials.
Soon after the threat call, all the passengers were asked to disembark and taken to the departure waiting area at the airport, while the plane was taken to the isolation bay at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and searched. During the process explosives were not found on board.
Jet Airways, later in a statement, said its Kathamandu flight from Delhi has been delayed due to a security alert.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our guests. Security of our guests and crew is always our number one priority,” Jet Airways said in the statement.