Four flights, including Delhi-Chicago Air India plane, get bomb threats online

Four flights including an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago on Tuesday received bomb threats online on social media platform X. The Chicago-bound Air India flight was diverted to Iqaluit airport , Canada.

The airlines that were targeted include: Air India Express aircraft traveling from Jaipur to Bengaluru via Ayodhya (IX765), a SpiceJet plane from Darbhanga to Mumbai (SG116), an Akasa Air flight from Siliguri to Bengaluru (QP 1373), and an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago (AI 127).

The bomb-threat messages prompted security agencies to undertake specific counter-terrorist drills at various airports, official sources told news agency PTI.

According to sources, an X handle issued threats on Tuesday targeting four aircrafts.

The Air India Express flight underwent a security check at the Ayodhya airport, while the SpiceJet and Akasa Air flights have already landed, as confirmed by flight-tracking websites. The Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago has been diverted to Canada for security checks.

Aviation security sources informed PTI that precautionary measures are being implemented in all the cases. The individual using the X handle tagged the airline and police handles in their threats, claiming that bombs had been placed on these aircraft, according to the sources.

Meanwhile, a series of hoax bomb threat messages caused significant disruptions for three international flights operated by two Indian airlines, affecting nearly 600 passengers on Monday. In response to the threats, which are treated with utmost seriousness, one flight—Air India flight AI 119 from Mumbai to New York—was diverted to Delhi for thorough checks.

Two other flights, IndiGo’s Mumbai-Muscat flight 6E1275 and Mumbai-Jeddah flight 6E56, faced delays as security teams conducted extensive inspections before allowing them to proceed to their destinations. Fortunately, the threats were confirmed to be hoaxes, but the incident underscores ongoing challenges to flight schedules and passenger safety.