Something bizarre is happening in the Indian aviation space these days. The country has received around 100 threats to commercial flights in the last week – far too many in such a short span of time. While these have been hoaxes, the damage they are doing to airlines, passengers’ travel plans, and the overall reputation of the Indian aviation sector is immense.

Over 100 flights receive bomb threats in a week

A bomb threat to a flight results in either a turn back to the origin airport or a diversion to another. The aircraft is often taken to an isolated bay where all passengers and their bags are carefully checked. This almost always results in travel disruption for passengers, and airlines and airports also lose time and money by spending on resources dealing with the situation. Now imagine having this repeated over 100 times in a matter of seven days.

IndiGo Airbus A321neo landing in Istanbul, Turkey shutterstock_1587916135

Photo: Soos Jozsef | Shutterstock

As worrisome as this trend is, it’s also intriguing that some people are clearly trying to irk the authorities and are not afraid to poke the bear. In the last week, all major Indian airlines and reportedly some international carriers, too, received bomb threats.

On Monday alone, around 30 domestic and international flights received bomb threats. Thirty! In one day. Aircraft that should otherwise be flying and generating revenue for airlines are being forced to stay on the ground so authorities can complete their investigation and sign it off as a hoax. Of course, carriers lose precious money due to their schedules being thrown off balance, and passengers, too, are inconvenienced in the process.

Scaremongering tactics

Most of these threats are being received via emails or through anonymous social media accounts. An emerging trend is that once a threat is received, many others follow soon. As of now, it’s difficult to say if it is being done in an organized manner or is simply a case of miscreants copying each other.

Vistara flight path

The motive behind these attempts is also not clear at the moment. While past isolated threats could be attributed to some individuals trying to fool authorities in the hopes of getting away with the act, the sheer volume of these threats in the last few days warrants thorough examination.

Many international flights have been forced to divert to a third country, including Turkey and Germany. Some, like the Vistara flight to Frankfurt (pictured above), had to turn back to India because Afghanistan wouldn’t let it land on its territory. Before that, an Air India Express plane had to be escorted by Singaporean military planes before landing at Changi Airport. Around the same time, an Air India
777 bound for Chicago had to divert to Canada.

While thankfully, all these threats were hoaxes, the optics of everything being played out in this manner threaten to impact the reputation of India’s aviation sector. The country enjoys excellent credibility when it comes to aviation safety, and so far, these threats have not created any serious dent. But a lot is at stake, and Indian authorities must nab the culprits sooner rather than later.

Related

Singapore Military Jets Escort Air India Express Following Bomb Threat

This follows a string of bomb threats that have been made to Indian airlines over the last few days.

If notoriety is the reason and the perpetrators want to rattle the country and get some media headlines, then they’ve been somewhat successful. After all, here we are analyzing the incidents in this article, as are many other news outlets. But, thankfully, there’s been no real sense of fear among the public so far. Therefore, it’s important to get to the roots of this problem before it does any harm to public perception.

Several Airplanes parked at Delhi airport.

Photo: Media_works | Shutterstock

India takes these threats seriously

One could understand India’s obsession with strict protocols when it comes to bomb threats. The horrendous Kanishka bombing in 1985 that downed an Air India 747 and the Indian Airlines hijacking in 1999 are still fresh in the memories of many Indians.

A silhouette of an aircraft about to land at sunset.

Photo: Nieuwland Photography | Shutterstock

But Indian authorities are treating these threats with severe urgency, with the country’s civil aviation minister, K Ram Mohan Naidu, saying that those “responsible for the disruptions will be identified and duly prosecuted.” Hopefully, we’ll see some progress in the investigation soon.

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