Bengaluru: At least 79 flights received bomb threats, mainly on international routes, from Monday night to Tuesday.

IndiGo’s flight 6E 75 from Ahmedabad to Jeddah was escorted to the isolation bay upon landing

The flights targeted included 23 from IndiGo, 21 from Vistara, 12 from Akasa and 23 from Air India, all of which received threats during this period. The incidents, involving multiple hoax calls, have pushed the total number of such threats received by the airline this week to around 169.

The most recent threats targeted flights to major destinations such as Jeddah, Istanbul, and Riyadh.

Among the affected flights was IndiGo flight 6E 164 from Mangaluru to Mumbai, which received a security alert. Passengers were safely disembarked, and thorough security checks were conducted.

Similarly, IndiGo’s flight 6E 75 from Ahmedabad to Jeddah was escorted to the isolation bay upon landing, where passengers were safely evacuated, following the standard operating procedures.

Other IndiGo flights that faced similar threats include Flight 6E 118 from Lucknow to Pune, Flight 6E 67 from Hyderabad to Jeddah, Flight 6E 18 from Istanbul to Mumbai, Flight 6E 83 from Delhi to Dammam, Flight 6E 77 from Bengaluru to Jeddah (diverted to Doha), Flight 6E 12 from Istanbul to Delhi, Flight 6E 65 from Kozhikode to Jeddah (diverted to Riyadh) and Flight 6E 63 from Delhi to Jeddah (diverted to Medina).

This comes a day after Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said that making hoax bomb threat calls to airlines will be made a cognisable offence.

Multiple carriers in the past few days have received several such calls, significantly disrupting flight operations across the country.