Two flights - one from Akasa Air and IndiGo - received bomb threats, which later turned out to be hoax calls on Wednesday. This is the 12th incident in the past three days.
Earlier, a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight from Mumbai was diverted to Ahmedabad after it received a hoax bomb threat via social media. The flight carrying nearly 200 passengers and crew had taken off from Mumbai on Tuesday night. The threat was confirmed as a hoax on Wednesday.
Today, a Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air was forced to return to Delhi after it received a bomb threat. Flight QP1335, carrying 184 passengers, took off from Delhi and an emergency was declared at 1:15 pm.
The plane then made an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital. Later, the threat too turned out to be a hoax.
In a statement, Akasa Air said the flight was taken to an isolation bay after landing and passengers were deplaned safely, provided refreshments and given regular updates.
"Akasa Air flight QP 1335, flying from Delhi to Bengaluru on October 16, 2024, and carrying 174 passengers, three infants and seven crew members on board, received a security alert. The Akasa Air Emergency Response teams monitored the situation to ensure all support was provided to the operating teams and information was transparently disseminated to relevant stakeholders," an Akasa Air spokesperson said.
"The Captain followed all required emergency procedures, diverted the flight back to Delhi and landed safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 1:48 pm," it added.
"According to the prescribed safety and security procedures, the aircraft was taken to an isolation bay upon landing. All passengers were deplaned at 1:57 pm, in coordination with the local authorities who undertook the necessary safety and security
checks," the company said.
"The Akasa Air teams are on the ground and prepared to assist all passengers to ensure their safety and comfort, including providing refreshments and regular updates through the process," the spokesperson further said.
On Tuesday, a Delhi-Chicago Air India flight, Jaipur-Bengaluru Air India Express, Dammam-Lucknow IndiGo flight, Darbhanga-Mumbai SpiceJet flight, Siliguri-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight, Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight and Air India Express flight from Madurai to Singapore were the seven flights that got bomb threats.
On Monday, two IndiGo flights and an Air India flight got similar hoax bomb threats. These were Mumbai-New York Air India flight, Muscat-bound IndiGo flight and another IndiGo flight heading to Jeddah.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has been working with cybersecurity agencies and police to trace the culprits behind the threats.
