'Talking to airlines': Centre says action being taken on recent hoax bomb calls to various flights

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said he can't comment on any kind of a conspiracy but from whatever little bit he knows. these calls are coming from some minors and pranksters.

In the wake of series of hoax bomb calls to various flights, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said action is being taken on this and the Centre is talking to the airlines, security agencies. He said that he can't comment on any kind of a conspiracy but from whatever little bit he knows. these calls are coming from some minors and pranksters. 

"Action is being taken on this.  We can't comment on any kind of a conspiracy but from whatever little bit we know these calls are coming from some minors and pranksters. These are all minor and isolated incidents. There is no kind of conspiracy that we can comment on. From our side, we are going to see what best we can do.  We are talking to the airlines, security agencies, within the ministry also. Consultations are going on," Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said. 

The pattern of domestic airlines receiving bomb threats to their flights continued for the fourth day as two international flights, one each of Vistara and IndiGo, were targeted in the similar manner on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday, seven flights of IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa received similar bomb threats.

Prior to that, nearly a dozen flights operated by Indian carriers received similar threats on Monday and Tuesday.

On Thursday a Mumbai-bound Vistara flight with 147 persons on board was immediately taken to security checks on its arrival from Frankfurt following the Boeing 787 aircraft receiving a bomb threat, according to the airline.

At the same time, an IndiGo flight operating from Istanbul in Turkiye for Mumbai also received a bomb threat and was taken to an isolation bay here for the security agencies to carry out a comprehensive security check.

IndiGo in a statement said, "Flight 6E 18, operating from Istanbul to Mumbai, received a security-related alert.Upon landing, the aircraft was isolated, and all passengers were safely disembarked."

The airline worked closely with the relevant authorities, and standard operating procedures were followed, it said.