An Air India
Boeing 777-300ER, flying between Mumbai and New York, was forced to divert to Delhi, India, following an alleged bomb threat that targeted the aircraft.
Forced diversion
According to Flightradar24 data, the Air India 777-300ER, registered as VT-AER, departed Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM) at 2:27 local time (UTC +5:30) to operate flight AI119 to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport
(JFK).
However, as it began flying north to cross the itinerary’s usual flight path for the past few days from Mumbai to New York, which involves crossing the airspaces of Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, as well as Greenland and Canada, the aircraft diverted to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL).
Photo: Soos Jozsef | Shutterstock
In early October, Air India had operated the same flight with a route that would take its 777-300ER
through the same countries, except, for example, on October 2, the aircraft overflew Estonia, Sweden, and Norway before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
The Air India flight crew did not squawk 7700, which would have indicated a general emergency onboard the aircraft, before the 777-300ER landed in Delhi.
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The Air India aircraft was forced to taxi to a remote stand for precautionary checks.
Alleged bomb threat
Nevertheless, as reported by The Indian Express, a representative of Delhi Airport’s police said that the Air India flight AI119 had to divert following safety concerns related to a bomb threat, with the individual threatening the safety of the aircraft in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Photo: viper-zero | Shutterstock
Flightradar24 records showed that once the 777-300ER landed in Delhi at 3:56 local time (UTC +5:30), the aircraft taxied to a remote stand near runway 11L/29R, which welcomed its first commercial flight in July 2023.
Videos posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed the aircraft surrounded by emergency vehicles and police officers as passengers had been evacuating the aircraft.
At the time of publishing, the Air India 777-300ER was still on the ground at Delhi’s airport, with no scheduled outbound flight to either New York or another destination. However, the flight tracking website showed that the widebody jet was being moved from the remote parking stand.
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Three such incidents took place in the last few days.
Daily flight between Mumbai and New York
According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, flight AI119/AI116 is the only direct connection between Mumbai and New York-JFK, with Air India scheduling daily flights on the route in October.
Other US-bound flights from Mumbai include Air India flight AI191/AI144 to Newark Liberty International Airport
(EWR) and the airline’s itinerary AI179/AI180 to San Francisco International Airport
(SFO).
United Airlines
has scheduled flights from Newark to Mumbai starting March 30, 2025. The flights, which were last operated before Russia invaded Ukraine, resulting in reciprocal sanctions that have since prevented Western airlines from utilizing Russian airspace, will return as a daily connection.
Photo: Kevin Hackert | Shutterstock
So far, preliminary schedules show airlines’ plans, including United Airlines, up until September 2025, which could mean that the US carrier’s service from Newark to Mumbai could extend beyond the summer schedule, which ends in October 2025.
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The routes have been further suspended to March 2024.