Several flights across major Indian airports were either cancelled or delayed on Tuesday due to a combination of technical snags and bomb threats, causing widespread disruption and panic among passengers.
IndiGo Kochi-Delhi flight
An IndiGo flight 6E 2706, which was travelling from Muscat to Delhi with a layover at Kochi, made an emergency landing at Nagpur airport on Tuesday after a bomb threat was received.
According to Lohit Matani, DCP Nagpur, all passengers have been safely deboarded, and an investigation is currently underway. Preliminary checks have not found anything suspicious so far, officials said.
Similarly, on Monday, officials informed that Lufthansa flight LH752, which was flying from Frankfurt to Hyderabad, was forced to return to Germany after a bomb threat was received. A committee has been formed to assess the threat as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
According to official sources, the Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight took off from Frankfurt on June 15 and was supposed to reach its destination early this morning. However, after an email was received at Hyderabad airport about targeting the flight with a bomb at 6:01 PM on June 15, out of an abundance of caution, the flight was advised to return.
Air India Ahmedabad-London flight
Air India`s flight to London from Ahmedabad, which has started operating with a new code post-June 12 crash of AI-171 plane, was cancelled on Tuesday due to unavailability of aircraft, resulting from airspace curbs and additional precautionary checks, the airline said.
The Tata Group-owned airline denied claims that a technical snag led to the cancellation and maintained it has made alternative arrangements to fly affected passengers to their destination and is offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling if opted for by them.
Air India San Francisco to Mumbai
An Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai suffered a technical snag in one of its engines, due to which passengers had to be deplaned during a scheduled halt at the city`s airport early on Tuesday.
Flight AI180 arrived on time at 0045 hrs at the airport, but the technical snag in the left engine resulted in the takeoff getting delayed.
At about 0520 hrs, an announcement was made in the aircraft asking all the passengers to deplane.
Air India Delhi-Paris flight
Air India has cancelled its Delhi-Paris flight on Tuesday after some problems were identified during pre-flight checks, according to the airline.
Air India further said that the “issue” is being addressed.
Consequently, the return flight AI142 from Paris to Delhi of June 18 also stands cancelled, it said.
Flight AI143 from Delhi to Paris (on) June 17 has been cancelled. The mandatory pre-flight checks identified an issue which is presently being addressed.
“However, in view of the flight coming under the restrictions on night operations at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the said the flight has been cancelled,” Air India said.
The airline said that it is providing hotel accommodation and also offering full refunds on cancellations or complimentary rescheduling, if opted by the passengers.