Bomb alert on Vistara flight: Another bomb threat prompts Delhi-London flight to land in Frankfurt

Bomb alert on Vistara flight: Another bomb threat on Tata SIA Airlines led to diversion of Delhi flight en-route London. The flight made a landing in Germany's Frankfurt on Saturday, reported PTI. An airline spokesperson on October 19 early morning said the flight landed safely at the Frankfurt airport and mandatory checks are being conducted. After being cleared by the security agencies, the flight will depart for its final destination, the spokesperson said.

The airlines in a post on X said, “Flight UK17 from Delhi to London (DEL-LHR) has been diverted to Frankfurt (FRA) and is expected to arrive in Frankfurt at 2110 LT ( Local Time).”

The airline's spokesperson informed that all relevant authorities were immediately informed following the bomb alert. As a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to divert the flight to Frankfurt in line with the protocol, the spokesperson asserted. "Vistara flight UK17 operating from Delhi to London on October 18, 2024 received a security threat on social media," PTI quoted Vistara spokesperson as saying.

In another update on X regarding the status of the flight the airline said Flight UK17 which was diverted to Frankfurt has departed from Frankfurt at 2332 LT and is expected to arrive in London at 2330 LT.

This recent bomb threat comes a day after Akasa Air said its flight QP1366 scheduled to depart for Mumbai from Bengaluru on Friday received a security alert shortly before taking off.

The airline said in a post on X said, “Hence as per safety and security procedures, all passengers had to be deplaned as the local authorities followed necessary procedures. We request your understanding as our team on ground did everything possible to reduce inconvenience.”

Nearly 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers received bomb threats in the past few days. Upon investigation, these bomb threat alerts later turned out to be hoaxes. These fake bomb threats prompted the Civil Aviation Ministry to arrive at strict measures as it plans to put in place strict norms to end further incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines. The penalty measure could include placing the perpetrators in the no-fly list.