IndiGo flight to Hyd gets delayed by 2 hrs

Visakhapatnam: An Indigo flight that arrived in Visakhapatnam on Monday afternoon was delayed for close to two-and-a-half hours, following a hoax bomb threat.

The flight departed from Hyderabad and arrived in Visakhapatnam at 2.30 pm. The bomb threat was received after it left Hyderabad through a social media platform.

Based on the post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), the authorities from the Hyderabad airport alerted the Visakhapatnam International Airport authorities.

On receiving the information, the airport officials conducted thorough checks after the plane landed in the city. With no suspicious material found, the officials and passengers heaved a sigh of relief.

The return flight was scheduled at 3.30 pm, but it was delayed due to security checks. Finally, the Indigo flight left for Hyderabad at 5.30 pm.

In the past two weeks, hoax bomb callers have been targeting commercial flight services and hotels in the country, resulting in delayed departures, creating panic and incurring losses.

As many as 50 flight services, including Akasa Air, IndiGo and Vistara, received hoax bomb threats. In addition, premium hotels in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal received threats.

The callers are using social media platforms for the threats. As the hoax bomb threats have been increasing, the government is serious about taking stringent action against the callers. Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, who flagged off daily flights between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada in Visakhapatnam on Sunday said that the Centre was taking the hoax bomb threat very seriously and a detailed inquiry would be conducted with the support of X, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Intelligence is underway to prevent such incidents.

Meanwhile, following the hoax bomb threat, security at Visakhapatnam International Airport has been beefed up.