Bomb hoax menace: Over 80 flights get threats today; over 250 threats so far in 11 days | Business News
The spate of bomb threats to Indian airlines intensified on Thursday with over 80 flights receiving threats via anonymous social media accounts, The Indian Express has learnt. Twenty flights each of Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo received threats, while 13 flights of Akasa Air were targeted, per sources. Five flights each of SpiceJet and Alliance Air also received threats. The total number of such threats has crossed 250 over 11 days.
According to sources, Thursday’s threats were posted by two anonymous and unverified X accounts, which were later suspended by the social media platform. Nearly all the threats since last Monday have come through posts from such anonymous accounts, which were set up only recently and most likely for this purpose. In some cases, the threats were issued for flights that had already been operated for the day or were not scheduled to operate.
While security protocols could still be underway for a few flights affected on Tuesday, all threats over the past 11 days turned out to be fake.
IndiGo confirmed that it received threats for 20 of its flights on Tuesday, while Akasa Air confirmed receiving threats for 13 of its flights. Air India and Vistara said that some of their flights received threats, but did not specify the numbers. All these carriers said that they alerted the relevant authorities as per protocol after receiving the threats and worked on their directions. SpiceJet has so far not confirmed or commented on Thursday’s threats.
Indian airlines have been hit by a spate of bomb hoaxes since last Monday (October 14). The threats have sent the airlines, airports, and security agencies into a tizzy, and have forced a few flight diversions and strict post-landing security checks and screenings in a number of cases.
Although most bomb threats turn out to be fake, airlines as well as aviation authorities globally take them with utmost seriousness. If initiated, the post-landing security checks often take a few hours and result in disruptions like delays and even rescheduling of the remainder of the flight in some cases, all of which hit the airlines financially.
The government plans to take legislative action to deal with fake bomb threats to aircraft and make the punishments harsher to deter pranksters from posting such threats. Among the moves in the works are changes to the Aircraft Security Rules—which would allow culprits to be banned from flying—and amendments to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation (SUASCA) Act, 1982, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said Monday.
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The relevant government ministries—including the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)—and agencies have gone into a huddle in view of these bomb threats. Naidu said that his ministry, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and the MHA and its agencies are working in close coordination to deal with the spate of threats. Government agencies are also learnt to be in touch with social media platforms and virtual private network (VPN) service providers to trace and nab those behind these threats.
Security has been enhanced at various airports with the number of security checks at various checkpoints being increased. This is being done to be doubly sure that no suspected articles are carried on board the aircraft.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
