Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport reportedly received a hoax bomb threat on Wednesday. As per reports run by various publications, these threats were allegedly made when a caller informed the CISF control room about a passenger carrying explosives in their luggage.
This call was allegedly directed at the domestic T1 terminal.
According to reports, the said passenger who allegedly carried the explosive was flying from Mumbai to Azerbaijan, where a UN summit is currently underway.
The Mumbai Airport authorities or the operators are yet to make a comment, confirming or denying these reports.
This comes amid rising concerns over the incessant and profuse number of such threat calls being made across the board in the civil aviation sector. Previously, just in the past month, major airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, and Spicejet, have all received such hoax calls.
On average, about 20 threat calls have been made against various airlines between January and September. However, this number shot up to 500 in October. On one of the occasions, an Air India flight from Mumbai to New York was diverted to New Delhi.
Previously, just in the past month, major airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, and Spicejet, have all received such hoax calls. | Representative Image/ Pixabay
This has created a new avenue of confusion and concern for the aviation industry, which has not entirely recovered from the pandemic shocks. In India, the picture is even more dire, with the number of airlines shrinking to a handful, with IndiGo having a stranglehold over the market with over 60 per cent of the market share. The aviation industry is turning into an oligopolistic market.
This has drawn the Union Aviation Ministry into the mix, who have promised action against perpetrators.
