In the last two weeks of October, Indian flights and airports received more than 500 bomb threats, more than during the rest of the year combined. Ind

How hoax bomb threats on India flights have skyrocketed

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2024-11-13 23:30:07

In the last two weeks of October, Indian flights and airports received more than 500 bomb threats, more than during the rest of the year combined.

Indian airlines and airports faced an unprecedented number of hoax bomb threats in October, causing delays and diversions with flights affected on hundreds of domestic and international routes.

No actual direct threat has apparently been posed to aviation, says private aviation risk company Osprey Flight Solutions. But the hoax threats have wide-ranging impact on operations, leading to additional security checks, swelling financial costs, and cause significant alarm and distress among passengers, it said.

Even as the threats have proved to be a hoax, authorities regard each one as credible until proven otherwise. This was echoed by Air India, which told Reuters it took all threats seriously “as a responsible airline operator”, after one of its flights to Singapore received a bomb threat on Oct. 15 and was escorted by fighter jets.

A stacked column chart showing the surge of hoax bomb threats towards India in the last half of October 2024 since 2021. It also shows that prior to this surge, hoax bomb threats globally was quite a low number on a weekly basis, never reaching more than 50. The trend towards India flights is only apparent for 2024. Data is provided by Osprey flight solutions.