More than 25 domestic and international flights operated by Indian carriers received bomb threats on Friday, PTI reported, citing sources.
Seven flights each from IndiGo, Vistara, and SpiceJet received threats, while six Air India flights were targeted.
An IndiGo spokesperson said that among the flights targeted were: 6E 87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E 2099 (Udaipur to Delhi), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 108 (Hyderabad to Chandigarh) and 6E 133 (Pune to Jodhpur).
“Flight 6E 2099, operating from Udaipur to Delhi, received a bomb threat. Following security agency guidelines, the aircraft was redirected to the isolation bay before take-off and standard operating procedures were followed. All passengers were safely disembarked,” the airline spokesperson said in a statement.
In 12 days, more than 275 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats. Most of the threats were issued through social media.
On Thursday, the Centre directed social media platforms Meta and X to share data about hoax bomb threat messages to airlines and has started identifying those behind such activities.
“The IT ministry told the social media companies to promptly give the government and law enforcement agencies information related to the bomb threats. This includes, but is not limited to the details of the person posting the hoax message,” a person who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity.
The spate in hoaxes has increased the carriers’ burden as a number of flights have had to be diverted, delayed, or subjected to searches after posts on social media said they had bombs on board.
Some threats have also led to much more serious situations. For example, last Thursday, an Air India flight from Mumbai to London was intercepted by Royal Air Force fighter jets after receiving a bomb threat.
Two days before that, Singapore Armed Forces scrambled two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane, which took off from Madurai, away from populated areas following a bomb threat. On Tuesday, the Nepalese Army rushed its bomb squad to the Kathmandu airport after a Vistara flight from Delhi got a bomb threat.
