More than 90 hoax bomb threats were made against Indian airlines last week, causing international travel chaos, with flights grounded, diverted and taken to safety under fighter jet escort.
An unprecedented series of hoax bomb threats against several Indian and international airlines has caused serious disruption to the Indian aviation industry and created growing panic among air travelers.
Last week, 90 bomb threats were made against airlines operating domestic and international flights from Indian airports. On Saturday alone, 30 false threats were reported and on Sunday at least 20 threats were made to different airlines.
Indian aviation authorities and criminal investigators are yet to trace the source and motive behind the rise in bomb threats, which are often sent via email or X. Major Indian airlines such as Air India and Vistara post via anonymous accounts on social media platforms. , SpiceJet and IndiGo were the main targets, but American Airlines, JetBlue and Air New Zealand also had flights diverted by the threats.
The impact on the Indian aviation sector is enormous. The regulations allow airlines to act on any threat, meaning that dozens of flights in third countries such as Turkey or Germany have to be diverted and make emergency landings or return to India.
On Sunday, a Vistara flight bound for Afghanistan and Frankfurt was denied an emergency landing after receiving a bomb threat, forcing the flight to be diverted to India.
India's aviation industry is booming, with domestic aviation expected to carry 152 million passengers by 2023. Over the past week, travelers have been angry that their trips are delayed, sometimes for days, and airlines face huge financial losses.
Last week, an Air India Boeing 777 flight from Delhi to Chicago was diverted to the remote Canadian city of Iqaluit due to a bomb threat. The 200 passengers on board were grounded for three days and eventually boarded a Canadian Air Force flight bound for Chicago.
Incidents include last week in Singapore and the United Kingdom, where fighter jets were sent to escort Indian planes that received bomb threats.
India's civil aviation minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu described the rise in fake threats as a “matter of grave concern” and said “those responsible for the disruption will be identified and appropriate action will be taken.”
The scale of threats last week is greater than what the Indian aviation industry has faced before. Between 2014 and 2017, Indian airlines received a total of 120 bomb threats.
Authorities arrested a minor and introduced rules that would put anyone involved in the bomb hoax on a no-fly list. However, while the threats continue, authorities continue to struggle to get to the bottom of the problem.
Speaking to Indian media, an air defense official described how the threats were carried out. “A threat is given through social media or through a phone call, and then all of a sudden those threats start appearing in a short period of time,” they said.
While the motive has yet to be determined, they said it was clearly designed to “disrupt the aviation industry, create panic and keep agencies on their toes.”
