An Air India flight from Mumbai to London declared an emergency after a bomb threat was received onboard. Today, five Air India flights, along with two Vistara and two IndiGo flights, were subjected to similar threats, adding to the wave of bomb threats airlines have faced this week.
The Air India Boeing 777 flight, AI129, took off from Mumbai at 7:05 am (IST) and was “squawking 7700” — a transponder code signaling a general emergency. FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft circling over eastern England before declaring the emergency, about an hour before its scheduled landing at Heathrow Airport, London, at 12:05 pm (UK time). The flight has since safely landed at Heathrow, with the emergency code no longer in use.
The series of threats marks the fourth consecutive day of bomb alerts, affecting at least 20 flights over this period. A Vistara flight, UK028, traveling from Frankfurt to Mumbai with 147 passengers onboard, also received a bomb threat. Upon arrival at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the Boeing 787 was directed to an isolation bay for security checks. Vistara confirmed in a statement that all passengers disembarked safely, and they are fully cooperating with authorities.
Similarly, an IndiGo flight, 6E 18, traveling from Istanbul to Mumbai, was taken to an isolation bay after a bomb threat. IndiGo stated that the aircraft was isolated after landing and all passengers were safely disembarked. Standard procedures were followed in coordination with the authorities, though further details were not provided.