Image showing a flight. For representational purposes.
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New Delhi: More than 30 flights received bomb threats on Saturday, as hoax messages threw security and airport apparatus into a tizzy for another day besides upsetting the schedule of fliers and putting them in agony.
The messages on Saturday followed a pattern that started on Monday with pranksters managing to impact the schedule of at least 70 flights during these days, prompting the officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to look into the rule books to tackle such people and exploring possibilities for putting them in a 'no-fly list'.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCAS) also held a meeting with CEOs of airlines and urged them to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
On Saturday, flights of Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, SpiceJet, Star Air and Alliance Air received the threats. The flights included IndiGo's Mumbai-Istanbul and Delhi-Istanbul, Vistara's Udaipur-Mumbai, and Akasa Air's Bengaluru-Mumbai and Mumbai-Siliguri flights.
After its three international flights received threats on Friday, Vistara’s five more international services received threats.
The Vistara flights were Singapore-Mumbai, Delhi-Bangkok, Mumbai-Frankfurt, Mumbai-Singapore, and Mumbai-Colombo.
IndiGo issued separate statements on the situation involving its flights and said the airline is working closely with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary precautions as per the guidelines. Its Jodhpur-Delhi flight landed in Delhi safely while its Hyderabad-Chandigarh flight landed in Chandigarh safely.
"Ensuring the safety and security of our customers and crew remains paramount in all facets of our operations. We worked closely with the relevant authorities, and standard operating procedures were followed," the IndiGo said in one of the statements related to a domestic flight.
Akasa Air said some of their flights operating on October 19 have received security alerts. "The Akasa Air Emergency Response teams are monitoring the situation and are in touch with the security and regulatory authorities. We are following all safety and security procedures in coordination with local authorities and the Akasa Air teams on ground are prepared to assist passengers to ensure their safety and comfort," it said.
Vistara said its Udaipur-Mumbai flight had a security concern shortly before landing and upon landing at the Mumbai airport, the plane was taken to the isolation bay for mandatory checks. On Friday, three international services of Vistara received threats and one of the flights -- Delhi-London -- was diverted to Frankfurt as a precautionary measure. The flights landed at their destinations London, Paris and Hong Kong later.
An Air India Express plane flying from Dubai made a landing in emergency conditions at its destination Jaipur at 1:20 am on Saturday due to a bomb threat. The threat was later declared a hoax.