Airlines Received 728 Bomb Threats In 2024, Indigo Remains Worst Affected
The highest number of such bomb hoax threats, 216, were received by Indigo, 179 by Air India, 153 by Vistara, 72 by Akasa, 36 by SpiceJet, 26 by Alliance Air, and 19 by Air India Express.
There was a 10-time jump in bomb threats faced by airlines in India in 2024, up to a record number of 728 such threats, as per the Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety (BCAS). In many cases, flights had to be grounded through emergency landings due to such threats, putting passengers to inconvenience.
The government has furnished data in Parliament after airlines were besieged by bomb hoax threats last year, and it was suspected that a sophisticated network of criminals was behind the same.
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The highest number of such bomb hoax threats, 216, were received by Indigo, 179 by Air India, 153 by Vistara, 72 by Akasa, 36 by SpiceJet, 26 by Alliance Air, and 19 by Air India Express.
Foreign Airlines like Emirates also received five such threats while in India, while Air Arabia received three such threats.
In 2023, 71 bomb threats were received, while only 13 were received in 2022 and just two in 2021. There was an exponential increase in 2024. This year, so far, 15 such bomb threats have been received by various airlines.
A group of tech experts is suspected of targeting Indian airlines with hoax bomb threats, according to the initial analysis conducted by central cyber agencies who also said no activity has been detected from the IP addresses used to send the threats through social media handles and emails. The exit nodes of these addresses are VPNs.
According to the initial investigation, the IP addresses were initially traced to European countries, but VPN chaining was suspected to have been used, making further tracing nearly impossible.
“BCAS has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats in coordination with Law Enforcement Agencies, Central Security Agencies, CISF and stakeholders, leading to minimal impact on flight operations. Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP), a detailed contingency plan, is in place to handle such threats. As a part of BTCP, every airport has a designated Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) which analyses the threat and takes action. In order to deal with hoax bomb threats, BCAS has issued advisories to all the Civil Aviation stakeholders in the country to ensure streamlined security measures and to prevent any unlawful interference with civil aviation," the government said in a statement to Parliament.
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