Hoax bomb threats: IndiGo flight from Udaipur gets threat call, 6 flights of SpiceJet also affected

The menace of hoax bomb threat calls to flights continued unabated on October 25. An Indigo Airlines flight flying from Udaipur to Delhi received a bomb threat today, an airline official said. 

Following security agency guidelines, the aircraft was redirected to the isolation bay before take-off and standard operating procedures were followed. All passengers were safely disembarked, and mandatory security checks were initiated. 

An official spokesperson of Indigo Airlines said, “We are working with the authorities and post completion of security checks, the aircraft will be positioned back in the terminal.” 

On October 25, over six SpiceJet flights received fresh threats, according to a News18 report. 

More than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats on October 24, PTI reported. 

As per the report, around 20 flights each of Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo got bomb threats while Akasa Air got the threats for 13 flights. Besides, around 5 flights each of Alliance Air and SpiceJet received the threats, they added. 

In 11 days, more than 250 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats. 

Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government plans to take legislative actions to deal with instances of bomb threats to airlines, including placing perpetrators of such threats in the no-fly list. 

The government has asked social media platforms Meta and X to share data about hoax bomb threat messages to airlines and has started identifying those behind such activities. 

The government has also asked top multinational technology conglomerates to cooperate with it in helping identify those behind such hoax calls, saying this involves public good. 

Meanwhile, three hotels in the temple town of Tirupati received bomb threats via emails, which turned out to be hoaxes. 

Police pressed sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads into service after three private hotels received the bomb threats through emails. 

The hotels in Leela Mahal, Kapila Theertham and Alipiri areas received the email on October 24 evening, police said. 

(With inputs from agencies)