Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Hoax threat are pouring in since late Friday night and 29 flights across Indian carriers had got such messages till Saturday afternoon. The situation is getting to a point where a big metro airport is running out of remote bays for parking aircraft that get threats for checks.
“Since Friday night we have the maximum spurt in threats. This is just crazy,” say officials of multiple airlines.The people behind these threats are now threatening flights of foreign airlines like American Airlines and JetBlue, say sources. Vistara saw its Delhi-London flight divert to Frankfurt Friday night. Air India’s Newark-Mumbai flight was delayed at origin by three hours as the aircraft had to be re-checked following a threat. IndiGo’s flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul also got messages along with three others of the airlines. Akasa, SpiceJet and other airlines also got threats.
Vistara’s Delhi -London flight diverted to Frankfurt and after a thorough check the aircraft proceeded to its destination. Air India’s Newark-Mumbai was delayed at the origin for checks that took three hours and then took off for India. And an AI Express Dubai-Jaipur flight reached its destination and was checked there on arrival at a remote parking bay. Vistara’s Udaipur-Mumbai also reportedly got such a message.
A Vistara spokesperson said: “Flight UK17 operating from Delhi to London on Oct 18 received a security threat on social media. In line with the protocol, all relevant authorities were immediately informed and as a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to divert the flight to Frankfurt. The flight landed safely at the Frankfurt Airport where all the mandatory checks were conducted by the security agencies following which, the aircraft was cleared to conclude the journey. At Vistara, the safety and security of our customers, crew, and aircraft remain our highest priority.”
IndiGo got similar threats for some of its flights, including Delhi-Istanbul (6E 11) and Mumbai-Istanbul (6E 17). “The safety and security of our passengers and crew is our highest priority and we are working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines,” it said for these two Istanbul flights.
“Flight 6E 184, operating from Jodhpur to Delhi received a security-related alert. The aircraft has landed in Delhi and customers have disembarked the aircraft, we are coordination with the security agencies as per procedure,” IndiGo said.
Since last Sunday there have been over 40 such hoax threat messages for both international and domestic flights of Indian carriers.
