Nearly 100 flights received Bomb threats, Govt mulls placing perpetrators in no-fly list

New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry pulled up employees of X amid a barrage of bomb threats received on X.

The government is planning legislative actions to deal with bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators in the no-fly list, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said and asserted that efforts are being taken to tackle the situation without compromising passengers' safety and security.

Even though bomb threats are hoax, things cannot be taken non-seriously, the minister said enhancing 10 per cent more checking at security check points.

Amendments are being proposed to The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982 whereby the perpetrators could be arrested and probe can be initiated without a court order for offences when an aircraft is on the ground.

Nearly 100 flights have received bomb threats in one week, with at least 8 of them getting diverted, and also causing hardship to hundreds of passengers as well as sending security agencies into a tizzy. The civil aviation ministry is planning to amend the aircraft security rules as well as SUASCA. Currently, the aviation norms mainly pertain to dealing with in-flight offences.

"The aircraft security rules will be amended to strengthen them and once the perpetrator of a bomb threat to a flight is caught, the person will be placed in the no-fly list. SUASCA deals with many offences such as those committed at airports, onboard an aircraft and disruption to air navigation facilities," said the Union Minister.

While it mentions about offences that happen in-flight, the minister said the Act also has to cover offences on the ground and at airports also.

Most threats through social media:

Most of the bomb threats, which later turned out be hoaxes, were issued through social media.

"We are trying to make amendments and the legal team has worked on it... We need consultations with other ministries also... we are definitively pushing forward to have changes in the Act also so that it addresses offences that happen when the flight is on the ground and also make it cognisable offence," he said.

Cognisable offences are those in which the accused can be arrested and an investigation can be initiated by the police without the order of a court.

Investigating to find any conspiracy:

To a query on whether there is a conspiracy behind the threats, the minister said let a thorough investigation happen and till then, there is no point in commenting on it.

"Without investigation, we cannot put out any pattern... let us wait for the completion of investigation," he added.

Asked whether the BCAS and BTAC (Bomb Threat Assessment Committee) have become selective in deciding which bomb threats to flights are specific and non-specific, Naidu said they are coming up with different processes so that it is easier to address these kind of situations from the authorities' side.

"Not saying that we are easing out the processes... we are keeping ourselves dynamic and not rigid... assessing and learning from what is happening. Everything is taken on case-by-case basis. Based on our learning, we are trying to assess the situation," the minister said.

Possibilities of whether there can be any better way to deal with the situation are being looked at so that less inconvenience is caused to passengers as sometimes protocols are very rigid, he said. "We are continuously talking to law enforcement agencies. We are pushing to speed up the process.

Nearly 50 flights receive bomb threats on Tue; around Rs 600 cr loss:

Nearly 80 domestic and international flights received bomb threats in less than 24 hours that later turned out to be hoaxes, keeping thousands of passengers and security agencies on tenterhooks.

The estimated losses incurred by airlines due to the disruptions would be around Rs 600 crore, according to two former airline officials.

On Tuesday alone, around 50 flights, including 13 each of IndiGo and Air India received bomb threats. Akasa Air got the threats for over 12 flights and as many as 11 flights of Vistara also received the threats, the sources in the know said.

Around 30 flights of IndiGo, Air India and Vistara got bomb threats on Monday night, they added.

In nine days, more than 170 flights operated by Indian carriers have received bomb threats, mostly through social media, that also forced the diversion of some of the international flights.

On average, disruption to a domestic flight would cost around Rs 1.5 crore while the expenses would be around Rs 5-5.5 crore for an international flight, an official, who has worked in the finance department of a domestic airline, told.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the average cost of disruption caused to domestic and international flights would be around Rs 3.5 crore, and for more than 170 flights, the total expenses or loss for the airlines would be around Rs 600 crore.

The figures are broad based since many other factors like narrow-body and wide-body planes, and duration of a flight also need to be taken into consideration.

Another official, who has served in the finance department of another domestic airline, said the operational costs are higher for wide-body planes compared to narrow-body planes. Apart from direct expenses such as fuel and airport parking charges, there are also indirect costs like impact on overall flight network, due to disruptions, the official added.

A Vistara spokesperson said that a few of its flights operating on Tuesday received security threats on social media. "We immediately alerted the relevant authorities and are following all security procedures as directed by them," the spokesperson said in a statement.

An Air India spokesperson confirmed that some of its flights operating on Tuesday were subject to security threats received on social media.

"Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities and security agencies," the spokesperson said.

Inputs from PTI.