4 threat calls at Delhi, B’luru airports; 3 flights grounded

Four bomb threat calls received in quick succession at Delhi and Bengaluru airports on Wednesday forced aviation authorities ground three flights, including two international, sending a panic wave among fliers. While Air India and Jet Airways flights to Kathmandu were grounded at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here, no-frills airline AirAsia’s Goa flight from Bengaluru also failed to take off on scheduled time due to similar reasons.

The Kathmandu-bound flights of Air India and Jet Airways, which were scheduled to take off at 1315 hours and 1325, were halted and sent to the isolation bay just before they were readying for departure after the airport police received a bomb threat call.

“Around 1 PM, the airport police received an anonymous call, saying that there were bombs inside two laptop (bags), kept in the planes of Air India and Jet Airways,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGIA) D K Gupta said.

Immediately, the authorities decided to ground both the flights, which were to carry 121 and 122 passengers respectively and take the two aircraft to the isolation bay for an extensive search of the baggage, cargo and aircraft, sources said.

“Jet Airways flight 9W 260, scheduled to depart from Delhi for Kathmandu at 1325 hrs, has been delayed due to a security alert. All 122 guests and 7 crew have been taken to the departures waiting area at the airport,” Jet Airways said in a statement.

The Air India flight finally took off at 1950 hours after receiving clearance from the security agencies.

At the same time, budget carrier AirAsia India’s flight to Goa from Bengaluru, which was to fly 141 passengers and 4 infants, was also delayed following a similar bomb scare on its incoming flight from Jaipur. According to AirAsia India, its incoming flight I5-1721 to Jaipur from Bengaluru received a specific bomb threat on arrival at Bengaluru after all 164 passengers on board with 1 infant deplaned.