A Vistara airline plane flying from New Delhi to London was forced to divert its route to Frankfurt, Germany, tonight after receiving a false bomb threat.
In the past week, almost 30 flights to or from India have had to change their travel plans due to similar warnings.
Flight UK17, which was flying between the Indian and British capitals on Friday night, was forced to divert to Frankfurt airport after receiving the threat on social media, according to an airline spokesperson to Indian television channel NDTV.
"In accordance with protocol, all relevant authorities were immediately informed and, as a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to divert the flight to Frankfurt," the same source added.
In the early hours of today, two other planes had to change their flight plans due to identical threats.
The Air India Express plane, which was flying from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Jaipur, in northern India, had to make an emergency landing at the same airport where it had planned to end its journey.
The third plane affected, an aircraft from the Indian low-cost airline Akasa Air, which was due to fly between Bangalore and Mumbai, was unable to take off from the southern Indian city after receiving a warning shortly before starting the route.
According to sources at the airline, all the warnings turned out to be false.
Almost 30 planes originating or destined for the Asian country were affected this week by a wave of false bomb threats that caused flight diversions, delays and cancellations.
Last week, Mumbai police arrested a minor as the alleged author of the first false bomb warnings, which prompted emergency maneuvers in Singapore and Canada.
India's aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, has assured that all those responsible for the disruptions will be "identified and prosecuted accordingly".
In June, India's Civil Aviation Security Agency recommended that those responsible for these threats against airports and airlines be banned from flying for five years.
No comments:
Post a Comment