On October 14th, an Air India flight from Mumbai (BOM) to New York (JFK) diverted to New Delhi (DEL) due to a bomb threat. The aircraft landed safely at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) almost an hour and a half after taking off, and is still on the grounds at New Delhi at the time of writing.

Event Details

Air India Flight AI119 is a scheduled flight from Mumbai to New York, which typically takes around 15 hours of flight time. However on October 14th, the flight will land at New Delhi instead of New York.

The aircraft operating the flight was a Boeing 777-300ER as usual. This triple seven was registered as VT-AER. It was first delivered to Etihad on November 2013, and Air India started flying it since August 2023.

The flight took off from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 2:27 AM local time, 47 minutes behind schedule. It soon began its cruising phase to New York, heading north (Air India is one of the few major airlines that fly over Russian Airspace, making the polar route possible).

However, as the Boeing was about to pass New Delhi, a message was sent to Air India on X, prompting an emergency response from the airline. According to a senior airport security officer, a user named Fazluddin Nirban sent the following message to Air India:

"6 kg of RDX and our six terrorists are on your flight VT-AER AI 119 to New York. This flight will be hijacked in 20 minutes and blown up mid-air. Today, India will weep. Pakistan Zindabad"

Following the message, Air India diverted the flight to New Delhi. The plane landed at New Delhi at 3:56 AM local time. FlightRadar24 data shows that the aircraft entered a steep descent, reaching a maximum descent rate of 3325 feet/min (by comparison, the typical descent rate on approach to New York is around 1000~1200 feet/min).

After safely landing at New Delhi, the aircraft was parked at a remote stand next to the runway. Videos on X show the Boeing 777 being surrounded by emergency vehicles and police officers as the passengers deplaned their aircraft.

Usha Rangnani, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Delhi Airport, said "Following standard procedures, we thoroughly inspected the aircraft, and no suspicious items were discovered". The passengers were also screened after disembarking.

Regarding the incident, an Air India spokesperson said:

"Our team is working to minimise[sic] the disruption caused to our guests. Air India prioritises[sic] the safety and security of its passengers and crew. We confirm that all 239 passengers and 19 crew members have disembarked and are undergoing security checks. Refreshments have been provided, and guests will be accommodated in hotels once security protocols are completed. The flight has been rescheduled for the morning of October 15".

The Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was involved, classifying the situation as "specific" by 3:55 AM (1 minute before the jet safely landed). The airport security officer stated that:

"We are investigating the origin of the threat, which has since been removed from the platform. No suspicious individuals or items have been found on the flight. We are also probing a similar threat involving Indigo flights received around the same time"

This suggests that Indigo flights were also related to the threats. This was later confirmed, as an Indigo spokesperson announced that two Indigo flights departing from Mumbai to Muscat and Jeddah also received bomb threats today on Monday morning. The aircraft were moved to isolated bays, and mandatory security inspections were swiftly carried out due to the incidents.

An investigation is currently ongoing, as attacks on civilian airliners are regarded as a serious threat to aviation safety.