Bomb Threats Cause Chaos for Indian Airlines: 25 Flights Affected Including Akasa Air’s Delhi-Hyderabad Route

In a week riddled with bomb threats, Sunday saw 25 flights from various Indian airlines, including one from Akasa Airlines connecting Delhi and Hyderabad, targeted. The scare caused severe disruption and inconvenience for hundreds of passengers as authorities worked swiftly to move the planes to isolation bays for thorough checks.

Among the flights affected, the Akasa Airlines flight to Hyderabad faced an emergency response upon landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA). The RGIA police, along with local teams, promptly evacuated all passengers, who were only allowed to exit the airport after a two-hour screening of all luggage. Fortunately, the bomb threat was later confirmed to be a hoax.

This incident is part of a larger pattern seen over the weekend, with more than 30 flights receiving bomb threats on Saturday, pushing the total number of flights affected by hoax calls to nearly 100 this week. Sunday’s wave of threats impacted six flights each from IndiGo, Vistara, Air India, and Akasa Air, and at least one Air India Express flight.

RGIA SHO K. Balaraju explained that the bomb threat against the Akasa Airlines flight was initially received by the Delhi airport’s operations control center and relayed to Hyderabad authorities as the flight neared its destination. Despite the chaos, the situation was brought under control with no harm to passengers or crew.

In response to these threats, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held an emergency meeting with airline representatives, aiming to implement stricter security measures to prevent future incidents. Among the proposed measures is the possibility of placing individuals responsible for such hoax threats on a no-fly list.

A handle on the social media platform X, which had been issuing bomb threats to flights, was blocked, indicating swift action against the spread of false alarms. With the ongoing concerns over passenger safety, the civil aviation ministry is moving towards enforcing stricter regulations to ensure that hoax threats are dealt with severely.