On Friday, PTI reported that over 25 domestic and international aircraft operated by Indian carriers received bomb threats, citing sources. Threats were made against seven IndiGo, Vistara, and SpiceJet flights each, as well as six Air India flights.
According to an IndiGo spokeswoman, the following flights were targeted: 6E 87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E 2099 (Udaipur to Delhi), 6E 11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 108 (Hyderabad to Chandigarh), and 6E 133 (Pune to Jodhpur).
The Airline spokesperson stated, “Flight 6E 2099, operating from Udaipur to Delhi, received a bomb threat. Following security agency guidelines, the aircraft was redirected to the isolation bay before take-off and standard operating procedures were followed. All passengers were safely disembarked.”
In the last 12 days, over 275 planes operated by Indian carriers had received bomb threats. Most of the threats were made on social media. On Thursday, the Centre asked social media sites Meta and X to disclose data about hoax bomb threat messages with airlines and began identifying those behind such acts.
“The IT ministry directed social media companies to swiftly share information on bomb threats with the government and law enforcement officials. This includes, but is not limited to, the identity of the person who posted the hoax message,” stated an attendee at the conference on condition of anonymity.
The recent wave of hoaxes has exacerbated the carriers’ load, as a number of planes have had to be diverted, delayed, or searched following social media claims claiming they had bombs on board. Some threats have resulted in considerably more serious situations. For example, last Thursday, an Air India flight from Mumbai to London was intercepted by Royal Air Force fighter jets in response to a bomb threat.