On October 27, over 50 flights receive bomb threats, 2 diverted
The hoax calls continue to affect the Indian aviation sector. As per the latest news, over 50 flights got bomb threats and 2 of them needed diversions.
In the past two weeks, over 350 flights run by Indian airlines have been hit with fake bomb threats, mainly via social media.
K Rammohan Naidu, the Union Civil Aviation Minister, mentioned that the government is considering measures to p revent those who make these hoax threats from flying and is looking to change a couple of Civil Aviation laws.
The threats, mainly shared on social media, have raised security worries throughout the aviation industry.
IndiGo has announced that several flights were flagged due to security alerts. These include 6E 11 from Delhi to Istanbul, 6E 92 from Jeddah to Mumbai, 6E 112 from Goa to Ahmedabad, 6E 125 from Bengaluru to Jharsuguda, 6E 127 from Amritsar to Ahmedabad, and 6E 135 from Kolkata to Pune.
Other affected flights are 6E 149 (Hyderabad to Bagdogra), 6E 173 (Delhi to Bengaluru), 6E 175 (Bengaluru to Delhi), 6E 197 (Raipur to Hyderabad), 6E 248 (Mumbai to Kolkata), 6E 277 (Ahmedabad to Lucknow), 6E 312 (Bengaluru to Kolkata), 6E 235 (Kolkata to Bengaluru), and 6E 74 (Riyadh to Mumbai).
Akasa Air announced that 15 of its flights triggered security alerts on Sunday. The airline stated that after thorough checks, all planes were cleared to fly. IndiGo also confirmed it encountered similar threats with 18 of its flights, while Vistara reported 17 incidents of the same nature.
IndiGo officials mentioned that two of their flights had to be redirected due to these threats. Flight 6E 133, which was headed from Pune to Jodhpur, was rerouted to Ahmedabad, and flight 6E 87 from Kozhikode to Dammam was diverted to Mumbai.
The IT Ministry has told social media platforms to stick to their responsibilities and quickly shut down access to any misinformation, in line with the timelines set by the Information Technology (IT) rules.