Updated October 24, 2024 at 11:54 AM ET
Six planes from Indian airlines declared emergencies within a span of 30 minutes on Tuesday, as India deals with a surge of hoax bomb threats that has caused significant travel disruptions.
All six flights were subject to bomb threats posted on the social media platform X on Tuesday. All six landed safely, according to flight trackers.
One was an Air India flight from New Delhi to New York City, which transmitted an emergency signal shortly before landing on Tuesday morning, according to AviationSource News.
The five other affected flights were Indian domestic flights.
The flights all squawked the code 7700, which indicates a general emergency.
Over the nine days to Tuesday, at least 170 threats have been made against flights, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. The threats were hoaxes but have forced airlines to divert and delay flights and implement costly security measures.
"Even though there are hoax threats, we can’t take the situation non-seriously," Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu told reporters on Monday. He said that despite most threats turning out to be fake, airlines and authorities have a rigid security protocol they're required to follow whenever a threat is received.
Eight flights were diverted in the past week, Naidu said Monday. He added that authorities had enhanced security at airports, and were using closed-circuit cameras to monitor airports more closely.
In one case, an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago on Oct. 15 was forced to land at Iqaluit Airport in northeastern Canada, and the plane and passengers had to undergo security screening. The 211 passengers were stranded, as the airport did not have the resources to do the necessary explosives detection. It was 18 hours later that the Canadian Air Force finally shuttled them to Chicago.
On Oct. 17, an Air India flight from Mumbai to London was intercepted by the U.K.'s Royal Air Force after receiving a bomb threat. It flew in a holding pattern for 30 minutes before it was allowed to land, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
A Vistara flight from Delhi to London was diverted to Frankfurt on Friday, the airline said. Then on Sunday, a Vistara flight from Delhi to Frankfurt had to turn around and land back in Delhi. Both incidents were due to bomb threats, according to Indian media.
"Strict action will be taken against hoax threats, as safety remains our top priority. Those jeopardizing security will face serious consequences," Naidu said in a statement.
The civil aviation minister told reporters his office was advocating changes to regulations and laws to increase punishments for making bomb threats.
"Once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-fly list," he said.
Many of the bomb threats are being made by anonymous accounts on X.
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