Unending Hoax Nightmare: Nearly 80 Domestic, International Flights Get Bomb Threats ; Security Tested ;Estimate Rs 600 Crore Loss Due To Disruptions

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Nearly 80 domestic and international flights received bomb threats in less than 24 hours that later turned out to be hoaxes, keeping thousands of passengers and security agencies on tenterhooks.

The estimated losses incurred by airlines due to the disruptions would be around Rs 600 crore, according to two former airline officials.

On Tuesday alone, around 50 flights, including 13 each of IndiGo and Air India received bomb threats as reported by PTI.

Akasa Air got the threats for over 12 flights and as many as 11 flights of Vistara also received the threats, the sources in the know said.

In nine days, more than 170 flights operated by Indian carriers have received bomb threats, mostly through social media, that also forced the diversion of some of the international flights.

On average, disruption to a domestic flight would cost around Rs 1.5 crore while the expenses would be around Rs 5-5.5 crore for an international flight, an official, who has worked in the finance department of a domestic airline, told PTI.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the average cost of disruption caused to domestic and international flights would be around Rs 3.5 crore, and for more than 170 flights, the total expenses or loss for the airlines would be around Rs 600 crore.

The figures are broad based since many other factors like narrow-body and wide-body planes, and duration of a flight also need to be taken into consideration.

Another official, who has served in the finance department of another domestic airline, said the operational costs are higher for wide-body planes compared to narrow-body planes. Apart from direct expenses such as fuel and airport parking charges, there are also indirect costs like impact on overall flight network, due to disruptions, the official added.

In separate statements, an IndiGo spokesperson said 13 of its flights received security-related alerts on Tuesday. These are 6E 196 (Bengaluru to Lucknow), 6E 433 (Aizawl to Kolkata), 6E 455 (Kolkata to Bengaluru), 6E 17 (Mumbai to Istanbul), 6E 394 (Kolkata to Jaipur), 6E 318 (Kolkata to Ahmedabad), 6E 297 (Hyderabad to Jodhpur), 6E 399 (Lucknow to Goa), 6E 381 (Goa to Ahmedabad), 6E 403 (Pune to Dehradun), 6E 419 (Surat to Goa), 6E 323 (Bagdogra to Chennai) and 6E 214 (Mumbai to Srinagar).

Passengers of all the flights disembarked safely at the destination airports.