PTI said that more than 25 domestic and international flights operated by Indian carriers reportedly received bomb threats on Friday, quoting sources. The threats affected seven flights each from IndiGo, Vistara, and SpiceJet and six Air India flights.
A spokesperson for IndiGo claimed that several flights were involved, specifically, flights 6E 87 (Kozhikode-Dammam), 6E 2099 (Udaipur-Delhi), 6E 11 (Delhi-Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah-Mumbai), 6E 17 (Mumbai-Istanbul), 6E 108 (Hyderabad-Chandigarh), and 6E 133 Pune-Jodhpur.
The flight number was 6E 2099, running from Udaipur to Delhi. Following the threat, security agencies directed the aircraft to be diverted to an isolation bay before its departure. All passengers were de-planed safely, the spokesperson said. Recently, there has been a trend of targeting flights run by Indian airlines with bomb threats, and in the last 12 days, over 275 flights have been targeted with these threats, mostly declared via social media.
The Centre has directed social media platforms like Meta and X to share data related to such messages after the sudden spate of hoax threats. The IT ministry has called for timely cooperation and is seeking details of individuals responsible for posting hoax threats.
This rise in such threats has added to the stress level of airlines by causing diversions, delays, and thorough searches of flights mentioned in social media posts. Serious incidents have also flared up in the situation. For example, last Thursday, an Air India flight from Mumbai to London was escorted by Royal Air Force fighter jets after a bomb threat was received.
Two days earlier, Singapore Armed Forces had scrambled jets to escort an Air India Express plane from Madurai away from populated areas following a similar threat. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Nepali Army also moved its bomb disposal squad at Kathmandu airport following a bomb threat on a Vistara flight from Delhi.
