After a thorough check by the security forces, nothing suspicious was found, said the police officer. The police are investigating who is behind the bomb threat. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is in talks with the other concerned ministries to make required amendments in the existing laws to make them more stringent to deal with the cases of hoax bomb threats for flights, MoCA sources said.
The accused person will be put on a no-fly list, said a senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday.

The official said that a committee will be formed in consultation with the law ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs to prepare a draft to make amendments to the Aircraft Act, 1934 and Aircraft Rules, 1937, and subordinate legislations to ensure 5-year imprisonment as well as placing offenders on a no-fly list for hoax bomb threats for flights.
The government wants to ensure high deterrence for such attempts, the officials said. At least 26 bomb hoax threats have been received in the past four days to all prominent airlines operating in the country. A senior official of a promi nent Indian airline called it an attempt to disturb the fastest-growing Indian aviation sector. The hoax bomb alerts cause diversion and delays of aircraft resulting in both financial losses and inconvenience for airlines and passengers.
On recent hoax bomb calls to various flights, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Thursday said, “Action is being taken on this. We can’t comment on any kind of a conspiracy but from whatever little bit we know these calls are coming from some minors and pranksters. These are all minor and isolated incidents. There is no kind of conspiracy that we can comment on. From our side, we are going to see what best we can do. We are talking to the airlines, and security agencies, within the ministry also. Consultations are going on.”

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A total of 6.3 crore domestic passengers travelled by air last year, 56.29 percent lower than 2019, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said.

The regulator said that only 73.27 lakh people travelled by air domestically in December last year, which was 43.72 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 2019.

While IndiGo carried 3.25 crore passengers last year, a 51.7 percent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 93.9 lakh passengers, which is 14.9 percent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

Air India, GoAir, AirAsia India and Vistara carried 69.32 lakh, 54.38 lakh, 43.87 lakh and 39.39 lakh passengers, respectively, in 2020, the data showed.

The occupancy rate or load factor of six major Indian airlines was between 65.1 percent and 78 percent in December 2020, it said.

“The passenger load factor in the month of December 2020 has shown declining trend compared to the previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 78 percent last month, the highest among the six major Indian carriers.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 percent of their pre-COVID-19 domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in December, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 94.9 percent at four metro airports – Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

AirAsia India and Vistara were at number two and three at these four airports in November with 89.9 percent and 88.4 percent on-time performance, respectively, the DGCA said.

The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and firing of employees in order to tide over the crisis.

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Harpreet Singh was the first woman pilot to be selected by Air India in 1988. Though she could not fly due to health reasons, she has been very active in the area of flight safety. The Indian Women Pilot Association is headed by Singh.

There were several reports that Alliance Air is being sold off with Air India. Later, according to reports, it is confirmed that Alliance Air will remain a PSU for now as it is not being sold off with the Air India-AI Express-AISATS combine.

AI’s old Boeing 747s will be transferred to Alliance Air, which currently has a fleet of turboprops, if the Maharaja gets a buyer and is privatised.

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All Air India Express flights to and from Dubai will operate as per original schedule with effect from September 19, the airline announced on Twitter and Facebook on September 19. This announcement followed a one day suspension ordered by the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority for flouting COVID-19 travel regulations.

Regarding the suspension notice from DCAA, Air India Express said: “The notice has been issued on account of erroneous acceptance of two Covid-19 positive passengers by the airline’s ground handling agents, one at Delhi and another at Jaipur.” It added: “As per information gathered, passengers who were seated in close proximity to the Covid-19 positive passenger on each flight have undergone tests and quarantined as determined by the Dubai Health Authority.”

On September 18, the DCAA had ordered a 15-day suspension of the airline’s Dubai operations and its Dubai flights had to be rescheduled to Sharjah. The rescheduled flights were to Kozhikode (Calicut), Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Mumbai and Kannur. Barring one or two, most of the passengers flew on the rescheduled flights both ways, an airline official said.

The airline pointed out that before receiving the notice, it submitted a letter to the DCAA expressing the airline’s sincere apologies and detailing the various actions taken by it in association with the ground handling agents concerned to safeguard against repeat of such incidents.

“Air India Express has advised the handling agents to implement a three-tier checking mechanism to avoid any such lapse in the future,” it said.
The DCAA has asked Air India to pay for all the expenditures incurred by the respective authorities regarding medical/ quarantine of any passenger on the flights that carried the two COVID-positive travellers.

The UAE has made it mandatory for all incoming passengers to procure a Covid-19 negative test result. Passengers travelling from India can get the test done from a Pure Health or an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) approved laboratory.

India has an air bubble agreement with UAE that is valid till October 31.

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