New Delhi: An Air India flight from the UK’s Birmingham to Delhi was diverted to Riyadh on Saturday night after a bomb threat was reported on board, the airline said on Sunday.
The airline confirmed that flight AI114 landed safely in Riyadh, where security checks were carried out.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, the aircraft took off from Birmingham at 8.26 p.m. and was en route to Delhi when it had to make the emergency diversion.
Air India later issued a statement saying that all passengers were safe and efforts were underway to arrange their travel to their final destinations.
“The inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this unforeseen disruption is sincerely regretted. Alternative arrangements are being made to fly the passengers to their destinations,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
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The Tata Group-owned airline has recently taken steps to enhance safety measures following a tragic crash in Ahmedabad on June 12.
As part of its response, Air India has introduced more rigorous pre-flight safety checks and temporarily reduced the number of flights to ensure smooth operations.
The airline also explained that factors such as airspace restrictions in the Middle East, night curfews at airports in Europe and East Asia, and general air traffic congestion are contributing to delays and cancellations.
This is not the first time Air India has faced such a situation recently. On June 13, another Air India flight, AI379, travelling from Thailand’s Phuket to New Delhi had to return to Phuket shortly after takeoff due to a bomb threat.
The plane, carrying 156 passengers, circled the Andaman Sea before safely landing back at Phuket International Airport.
Thai airport authorities confirmed the emergency landing but did not share more details about the nature of the threat. Air India has not made a public statement about that incident.
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