In Delhi, On Thursday, more than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats.
According to the sources, each airline, such as the Air India, Indigo, and Vistara, received bomb threats for around 20 flights, while the other airlines, such as Akasa Air, received threats for 13 flights. In addition, around 5 Alliance Air and Spicejet flights received threats.
In 11 days, more than 20 flights operated by the Indian carriers received bomb threats. An Indigo spokesperson said on Thursday that "it received security-related alerts for the 20 flights.
The following various flights include 6E 133 (Hyderabad to Goa), 6E 235 (Kolkata to Bengaluru), 6E 334 (Kolkata to Hyderabad), 6E 236 (Bengaluru to Kolkata), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai) and the 6E 125 (Bengaluru to Jharsuguda).
Other than this, these flights are also included: 6E (Pune to Jodhpur), 6E 149 (Hyderabad to Bagdogra), 6E 196 (Kochi to Bengaluru), 6E 135 (Kolkata to Pune), 6E 304 (Kochi to Hyderabad), 6E 282 (Delhi to Aizwal), 6E 201 (Guwahati to Kolkata) and 6E 277 (Ahmedabad to Lucknow).
Not only this, but flights like 6E 265 (Jaipur to Chennai), 6E 259 (Goa to Kolkata), 6E 394 (Guwahati to Kolkata), and 6E 112 (Chandigarh to Ahmedabad) also received security-related threats. The 13 Akasa Air flights operating on Thursday received security alerts, and after thorough inspections, all the aircraft concerned were released for operation.
The services teams at all the impacted airports coordinated with the local authorities to ensure the efficient handling of the situation, including the safe deplaning of passengers, assistance, and refreshments as per the requirements. According to Vistara, a few of the flights on Thursday received security threats even on social media; at least six flights to and from Kochi airport received bomb threats on Thursday. It included the one flight from SpiceJet from Dubai to Kochi.
Although most bomb threats turn out to be fake, the airlines and the aviation authorities worldwide take them with the utmost seriousness. If a bomb threat is initiated, the post-landing security checks often take a few hours and the result in disruptions like delays and even the rescheduling of the remainder of the flight in some cases, all of which beat the airlines financially.
Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said that the government plans to take legislative action to deal with airline bomb threats to aircraft and make the punishments harsher to deter pranksters from posting such threats. Among the activities in the works are changes to the aircraft security rules. This would allow the culprits to be banned from flying and the amendments to the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of the Civil Aviation Act. 1982.
Given these bomb threats, the relevant government ministries, including the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the agencies have gone into a huddle. Government agencies are also learning to contact social media platforms and virtual private network service providers to find those behind these threats.