Centre Confirms Having 'Critical Leads, Initial Suspects' Amid Hoax Bomb Threats On Flights

The alarming surge of bomb threats targeting Indian airlines - 12 incidents in the last 48 hours - was addressed during a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, reported NDTV.

This meeting followed discussions between Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and officials from his ministry, as well as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Aviation officials informed MPs that "critical leads" had been identified, and a few initial suspects were under scrutiny.

Late Tuesday, after an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago was diverted to a remote Canadian airport due to a bomb threat, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security announced it had initiated an investigation into this hoax, along with others. Several threats were traced back to a single account on X.

On Tuesday alone, seven flights were affected after threats were tweeted from this account.

In addition to the flight that landed in Canada, an IndiGo flight from Saudi Arabia to Lucknow made an emergency landing in Jaipur, as did an Air India Express service from Jaipur to Ayodhya.

Another Air India Express flight, two Akasa Air planes, and an Alliance Air service were also impacted.

This afternoon, threats were received for an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Delhi and an Akasa Air flight from Delhi to Bengaluru; the IndiGo flight was diverted to Ahmedabad, while the Akasa Air plane returned to Delhi.

On Monday, bomb threats were received by two IndiGo and one Air India flight; the Air India flight was en route from Mumbai to New York, while the IndiGo flights were bound for Oman and Saudi Arabia.

In the same committee meeting, other topics such as ticket pricing and regional air connectivity, particularly under the government's UDAAN scheme, were also discussed.

Committee members highlighted significant discrepancies in ticket prices between various airlines, particularly on the same routes, and noted an "unusual" surge in fares. These matters are expected to be examined in further detail, according to sources.