Airlines and airports in India received a total of 999 hoax bomb threats from the start of this year until Nov 14, nearly 10 times more than in the whole of 2023, the country’s deputy civil aviation minister told parliament on Thursday (Nov 28).
The threats to both domestic and international flights were made mostly through social media, disrupting travel in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market, and all were found to be false alarms.
“The recent threats were hoaxes and no actual threat was detected at any of the airports/aircraft in India,” the minister, Murlidhar Mohol, told parliament in a written answer.
More than 500 bomb threats were made in the last two weeks of October alone – higher than the rest of the year combined, he said.
Twelve people have been arrested in relation to the 256 police complaints registered over such threats up to Nov 14.