Airlines on high alert as bomb threats to Indian flights surge

A crowd gathers at Mumbai airport’s Terminal 2 amid extensive flight delays due to the threats. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Over 45 aircraft received bomb threats today, pushing the total number of such incidents to more than 70 in the past six days. All threats were communicated via social media, either through direct messages sent to airlines or by tagging them in posts, creating a wave of anxiety across the aviation sector. While it was solely Indian airlines that were targeted in the past five days, on Saturday, Delta Airlines became the first foreign airline to receive such threats. The airlines targeted yesterday were Indigo, Air India, Spicejet, Akasa Air, Alliance Air, Vistara and Delta.

Highly placed sources in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) told mid-day, "Today [Saturday], 35 threats were received via the same social media handle, all within a span of 30 minutes." Sources said this does not seem to be a case of someone trying to play a prank. "Though we can only confirm this once the culprits are caught, this looks like an attempt to overwhelm and wear out security agencies," they added.

A senior BCAS official confirmed: "Airline officials and authorities are on high alert at the moment." BCAS officials met CEOs of the airlines in New Delhi on Saturday, to emphasise on the importance of following the Standard Operating Protocol upon receiving a threat and stressing on the need to keep all stakeholders informed about the threats and the action taken.

Several flights have been delayed or cancelled for extensive security checks following these threats, resulting in considerable inconvenience to passengers. Many flights were also delayed as the airborne aircraft needed to be grounded first. This led to multiple departing aircraft to be kept on hold till flights with bomb threats were brought on the ground. The situation created a scare at multiple airports, including the Mumbai and Delhi international airports. FIRs in multiple cases have been lodged across several police stations.