Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 20: “Indian Skies are absolutely safe,” assured the Indian aviation officials amidst continued bomb threats to Indian airlines causing great inconvenience to passengers and financial losses to the airlines operators.
On Sunday, more than two dozen hoax bomb threats were received by different airlines by evening prompting the authorities to activate emergency protocols and pilots to land their aircraft before reaching their destinations. With Sunday’s threat calls, the total number of such calls received since last Monday reached to near 100.
“Indian skies are absolutely safe. The current protocol (to deal with the situation) is robust and is being strictly followed. We reassure passengers that they should fly without any fear and in fact, fly even more,” the Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Zulfiquar Hasan, said on Sunday.
He said the hoax bomb threats would be curbed down at the earliest and added that the aviation authorities were in touch with the concerned security agencies and airlines over the matter. He has assured that these hoax calls will be curbed down at the earliest as they are working over it.
Earlier in the day, a meeting of the airlines was held at the BCAS headquarters in Delhi. According to officials, the meeting was called to discuss the issue the airlines were facing due to the series of hoax bomb threats. They also said the issues related to security during festive season could lead to congestion at airport.
BCAS officials assured the airlines representatives that they were working with the concerned agencies to reach the root cause of the issue. The back-to-back threats has placed a significant burden on the airlines, security forces, and passengers. And it is tough for all stake holders in aviation security to maintain operational stability during festive time, the officials added.
Earlier, Spice Jet and Air Asia flights received five bomb threats each, with multiple airlines receiving a total of 30 bomb threats in the last four days. Five hoax bomb threats were received by Spice jet, regarding flights SG 55, SG 116, SG 211, SG 476, SG 2939. Five more were received by Air Asia regarding flights 9I 506, 9I 528, 9I 822, 9I 661, 9I 804.
One of the Air Akasa flights that received the bomb threat was flying from Lucknow to Mumbai. “Some of our flights scheduled to operate on October 20, 2024 have received security alerts today. Akasa Air emergency response teams are monitoring the situation and are in touch with security and regulatory authorities,” a spokesperson of Akasa Air said. “We are following all safety and security procedures in coordination with local authorities and Akasa Air teams on the ground are ready to assist in ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers.”
A Vistara spokesperson said they got security threats on social media for six Vistara flights scheduled to operate today. These include flight Nos. UK25 (Delhi to Frankfurt), UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK146 (Bali to Delhi), UK116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK110 (Singapore to Pune), and UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore).
The airport in Karnataka’s Belagavi also received two threat emails on Saturday and one on Sunday. The police and the bomb squad checked the airport, after which they determined it to be a hoax mail. Another flight made an emergency landing in Rajasthan’s Udaipur on Sunday following a bomb threat message.
In separate statements, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline was aware of a situation involving flights 6E58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E133 (Pune to Jodhpur) and 6E112 operating (Goa to Ahmedabad).
According to official sources, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) was in talks with the other concerned ministries to make required amendments in the existing laws to make them more stringent to deal with the cases of hoax bomb threats for flights. The official said a committee would be formed in consultation with the law ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs to prepare a draft to make amendments to the Aircraft Act, 1934 and Aircraft Rules, 1937 and subordinate legislations to ensure a 5-year imprisonment as well as placing offenders on a no-fly list for hoax bomb threats for flights.
Vistara said it got security threats for six flights — UK25 (Delhi to Frankfurt), UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK146 (Bali to Delhi), UK116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK110 (Singapore to Pune) and UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore). “In line with the protocols, all relevant authorities were immediately notified, and security procedures, as directed by them, are being carried out,” a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement.
An Akasa Air spokesperson said some of its flights received security alerts on Sunday. Emergency response teams are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the security and regulatory authorities, the spokesperson said in a statement. “We are following all safety and security procedures in coordination with local authorities,” the spokesperson added.
While the sources said there were threats for at least six Air India flights, there was no immediate comment from the airline. A Dubai-bound Air India Flight from Mangaluru received a hoax bomb threat. The threat was sent via an email by an unknown source to Air India, claiming that one flight from Mangaluru-Dubai would be blown. The threat came out to be hoax and the aircraft safely landed in Dubai. Meanwhile, an FIR has been registered at the Bajpe Police Station in Mangaluru.
DCP East, Jodhpur, Alok Shrivastava said, “We had received information of bomb threat by CISF on a flight to Jodhpur. All the officials, including the Bomb Disposal Squad, reached here. Passengers have been deported safely…Aircraft screening has been done…”