Bomb threats extremely serious, culprits to be placed on no-fly list: Aviation Minister

After nearly 100 bomb threats against flights in seven days since October 14, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stated on Monday that public safety is the government’s top priority. He also announced that regulations are being amended to place individuals responsible for such threats on no-fly lists.

"It is a very sensitive situation when it comes to such threats, there is an international procedure that we have to follow. Multiple meetings have been held with stakeholders since the calls began and amendments are being considered in the Aircraft (Security) Rules so that the people making such threats can be put on the no-fly list after they are identified," Naidu said.

As many as 25 flights of Indian airlines received bomb threats on Sunday, causing hardships to hundreds of passengers and forcing authorities to move scores of planes to isolation bays at airports concerned for detailed checks. The developments came a day after more than 30 flights of various Indian carriers received bomb threats. This week, nearly 100 flights received threats sending security agencies into a tizzy. The threats later turned out to be hoaxes.

Six flights each of IndiGo, Vistara, Air India and Akasa Air, and at least one flight of Air India Express received the threats on Sunday, PTI reported. In separate statements, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline is cognisant of a situation involving flight 6E 58 (Jeddah to Mumbai), 6E87 (Kozhikode to Dammam), 6E11 (Delhi to Istanbul), 6E17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E133 (Pune to Jodhpur) and 6E112 operating (Goa to Ahmedabad).

Vistara said it got security threats for six flights -- UK25 (Delhi to Frankfurt), UK106 (Singapore to Mumbai), UK146 (Bali to Delhi), UK116 (Singapore to Delhi), UK110 (Singapore to Pune) and UK107 (Mumbai to Singapore).

Security alerts were received for six Akasa Air flights -- QP1102 (Ahmedabad to Mumbai), QP 1378 (Delhi to Goa), QP 1385 (Mumbai to Bagdogra), QP 1406 (Delhi to Hyderabad), QP 1519 (Kochi to Mumbai) and QP 1526 (Lucknow to Mumbai). The sources also said there were threats for at least six flights of Air India flights.

An Air India Express flight IX481 from Kochi to Dammam received the bomb threat and the flight landed safely at Dammam, the sources said. On Sunday, a handle on social media platform X that had issued bomb threats to some flights was blocked.

Against the backdrop of bomb threats, mostly through social media, to airlines, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with representatives of airlines on Saturday. The civil aviation ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines.