A wave of bomb threats has disrupted air travel in India, grounding hundreds of flights over the past two weeks. The threats, which have largely been deemed hoaxes, have sent shockwaves through the aviation industry and raised concerns about security protocols.
On Friday alone, around seven flights each for IndiGo, Vistara, and SpiceJet, as well as six Air India planes, were impacted by the threats. One of the affected IndiGo flights, 6E 2099, was scheduled to fly from Udaipur to Delhi. Following the threat, the aircraft was redirected to an isolation bay for inspection before take-off, and all passengers were safely disembarked.
In total, approximately 275 flights operated by different Indian airlines have been hit by the barrage of threats over the past 12 days. The majority of these threats have been issued via social media platforms, prompting the Indian government to request data from Meta and X (formerly Twitter) to help identify the perpetrators.
These incidents have caused significant inconvenience for passengers and have forced airlines to implement additional security measures at airports. The authorities are investigating the source of the threats, and it remains unclear who is behind them. The Indian government has condemned the actions of the perpetrators, highlighting the serious nature of these threats and the potential for causing widespread panic.
This situation highlights the vulnerability of the aviation industry to misinformation and the need for strong security measures to protect both passengers and aircraft. Authorities are working to address this issue, and it is expected that the investigation will continue in the coming weeks.