Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Jharsuguda airports get bomb threat; security enhanced

The authorities of Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda airports on Wednesday received threats about the presence of bombs on different flights but those later turned out to be a hoax, airport officials said.

A threat about the presence of bombs on an Akasa Air flight at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar was received on social media, but it later turned out to be a hoax, an official of the airport said on Thursday.

Security was beefed up at the airport after the incident, he said.

"We have received a hoax threat on 'X' that bombs have been fixed on an Akasa Air flight. Following standard operating procedure (SOP), we have cleared the flight and it departed for its destination," BPIA Director Prasanna Pradhan said.

Security has been tightened at the airport, he added.

Similarly, the authorities of Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda got information about the presence of bombs on a Bengaluru-Jharsuguda IndiGo flight.

"After getting information about this, we followed the procedure and decaled it as a hoax call," Jharsuguda Airport Director Sandeep Kumar Tiwari told reporters.

The flight departed after conducting necessary examinations, he said.

Meanwhile, some flights of IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa operating to and from Kolkata also received similar bomb threats, a senior Airports Authority of India official said.

The airlines received the threats on X.

The threat was non-specific and it turned out to be a hoax, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport Director Pravat Ranjan Beuria said.

As per standard protocol, the airport premises were checked. Some planes which were mentioned in the threat were also taken to the isolation bay and thoroughly checked, he said, adding it turned out to be a hoax.

This was one of the reasons why the suspension of flight operations in the wake of Cyclone Dana was delayed for some time, the airport director said.

The airport and airlines officials also informed the NSCBI police station and a case was registered, police sources said, adding an investigation has been launched.

Security has been tightened at the airport, sources said.

The threats were directed towards AAI, IndiGo airlines, Akasa and Alliance Air in Kolkata.

In 11 days, more than 250 flights operated by Indian carriers have received bomb threats.

Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government plans to take legislative actions to deal with instances of bomb threats to airlines, including placing perpetrators of such threats on the no-fly list.