Over the last one week, the schedule of several Indian and international airlines was affected due to a spate of hoax bomb threats. Although all these calls were hoaxes, passengers had to face immense hardships and airport security infrastructure was under immense stress.
Moreover, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said that those caught for making false bomb calls to airlines would be put on a fly-list. He also said that the Central government wants to make this a non-congnisable offence.
Here's what airlines do in case of a bomb threat call:
If a bomb threat is reported mid-air, an alert is sounded immediately and a meeting of the airport's Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) is convened. The members of the BTAC include representatives of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the airline concerned and the airport operator.
The committee then classifies the threat into 'specific', 'non-specific' and 'on board during flight'.
If the committee considers the threat to be "specific", the pilots are asked to consult the Air Traffic Control (ATC) before making their next move. In a specific threat, details such as flight number, date, timing of departure and arrival as well as place of origin and destination is mentioned.
In case of a non-specific threat, the airline, flight number, date and schedule are not clearly mentioned. If a bomb threat is received 'on board during flight', the pilot determines what to do.
The choice to return to the point of origin, proceed to the destination, or divert the plane to the nearest landing site is made based on whether the threat is specific or non-specific. If the bomb threat is targeted at a flight that has not taken off yet, the aircraft is moved to a secluded area for security checks after consultation with the BTAC.
In case an international flight outside the Indian airspace receives a bomb threat, pilots are asked to contact the ATC. Based on the real-time location of the flight, pilot is instructed to return to the nearest departure airport or reach the destination or divert the flight to a nearby airport.
Until and unless it is established that the threat is a hoax, security measures will remain in place.
After the aircraft which received a bomb threat has landed, it is taken to a secluded bay at the airport. Passengers and crew members are made to deboard the aircraft as early as possible.
Baggage, cargo, and catering material are offloaded, following which passengers and their belonging are screened again. The airline, engineering and security staff thoroughly search the empty aircraft using sniffer dogs and scanning machines.
The aircraft is released for operations if nothing suspicious is found. In case any suspicious object is discovered, security personnel and bomb disposal squads will intervene as needed. Other emergency response teams including firefighters and medical personnel are also on standby throughout the drill so they can step in to manage any untoward incident.