After hoax bomb threat, Vistara flies passengers stuck in Turkey to Frankfurt in substitute aircraft | Business News
The bomb threat that forced a Vistara aircraft operating the Mumbai-Frankfurt flight UK27 to divert to the Erzurum airport in Turkey’s eastern region on Friday has turned out to be a hoax. The Turkish security agencies cleared the passengers, crew, and the aircraft after all necessary checks were concluded late on Friday. The Boeing 787 aircraft had 234 passengers and 13 crew on board.
The plane, however, could not leave for Frankfurt soon after the security checks concluded as the crew of the diverted flight had exceeded its flight duty time limitations (FDTL), which meant it could not have operated a flight without a mandatory rest period. Consequently, Vistara on Saturday dispatched an alternative aircraft with a fresh set of crew to fly the passengers stuck in Erzurum to Frankfurt.
The substitute aircraft arrived at the Erzurum airport at 3:45 PM local time (6:15 PM India time) and departed for Frankfurt at around 5:40 PM local time (8:10 PM India time). The passengers and crew of the diverted flight had been stuck in Erzurum for around 22 hours before being sent to Frankfurt.
“In the meantime, all efforts are being made to minimise inconvenience to customers, including offering them refreshments and meals. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to them due to this unforeseen situation. As always, the safety and security of our customers, crew and aircraft is of utmost importance to Vistara,” the airline had said early Saturday as it announced its plan of sending an alternative plane and crew to Erzurum.
According to sources, the bomb threat appeared to be in the form of a written message, noticed by a cabin crew member in one of the lavatories of the aircraft.
Bomb threat and security protocol
While most bomb threats related to flights turn out to be fake, airlines usually take those very seriously. Declaring an emergency and diverting to the nearest feasible airport —where passengers and crew can be offloaded and the aircraft thoroughly inspected — is the usual course of action by the pilots.
Over the past few months, a number of Indian carriers’ flights have received fake bomb threats. “As per protocol, the relevant authorities were immediately alerted and we are fully cooperating with the security agencies to complete the mandatory security checks,” a Vistara spokesperson had said on Friday after the diversion.
As per information available on flight tracking service Flightradar24, the aircraft operating the flight and bearing registration VT-TSQ squawked 7700, which indicates a general emergency, at around 6:20 pm India time on Friday. The aircraft then diverted to the Erzurum airport.
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It had taken off from Mumbai a little over five hours earlier and was three-and-a-half hours away from Frankfurt.
After the aircraft landed at the Erzurum airport, passengers were evacuated and bomb disposal teams were dispatched to inspect the plane as per the security protocol, it is learnt. Given that an emergency had been declared at the Erzurum airport, all flight operations from the airport were temporarily suspended till the security checks were completed.
