Explained: Airlines suffer a loss of more than Rs 3 crore due to a fake bomb call, know how

On Monday, October 14, an Air India flight took off from Mumbai to JFK Airport in New York. This Boeing 777 aircraft left for New York for a 16-hour non-stop journey with approximately 130 tons of jet fuel. Shortly after takeoff, the airline received a call stating that there was a bomb on board the flight. AI 119 headed to JFK Airport was immediately diverted. Within two hours of taking off, he/she was preparing to land at Delhi airport. However, there was a problem.

Cases of fake bomb threats on flights increase

A senior pilot said that the maximum landing weight of B777 (Boeing 777) is 250 tonnes. Such a complete flight weighs approximately 340-350 tonnes when flown with passengers, luggage and cargo. Landing within two hours means wasting about 100 tons of fuel. At around Rs 1 lakh per tonne, the cost of fuel wastage alone comes to Rs 1 crore. This includes other expenses like unexpected landing and parking charges at IGI airport, keeping more than 200 passengers and crew members in Delhi hotels, compensating them later for missed connections.

Loss of Rs 3 crore due to false rumor

Emergency landing of a flight on false rumor then involves arranging for a new pair of operating crew before returning the aircraft back into service after a thorough investigation. According to officials, the operating crew and passengers are facing problems due to the flight not reaching JFK Airport. With this, the airline company suffers a loss of more than Rs 3 crore due to this one fake threat. Since last Sunday it seems there has been a flood of fake threats. As of late Thursday night, around 40 threatening rumors have had a huge financial impact on airlines. According to estimates by airline officials, the additional expenditure is around Rs 60-80 crore.

Emergency landing of Air India plane

Take the case of Air India B777 (VT-ALM), which flew from Delhi to Chicago this Tuesday (October 15). Twelve hours later, the flight with more than 200 passengers on board landed in the remote Canadian town of Iqaluit due to a bomb threat. The plane landed there at 5.21 am on 15 October. The next commercial flight of this aircraft took place three and a half days later. Earlier it reached Chicago from Iqaluit as a ferry flight. There were no passengers in it at that time. That’s because the stranded passengers had already been flown to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force A330. Air India will pay for this. And then the aircraft took off as a commercial flight for Delhi at 5.15 pm on October 18.

Know the cost of one day of Boeing 777

The average monthly fare for a B777 is between $400,000 and $600,000. This works out to an average daily rent of about $17,000. Not flying means a loss of $17,000 every day. Now, if the false threat had not been issued, the plane would have reached Chicago and then, after a few hours, would have taken off for Delhi as a routine flight. But not reaching Chicago meant that more than 200 passengers and crew were stranded in Iqaluit. For these, accommodation, food and other basic necessities had to be arranged in a remote town.

Passengers face problems with airlines

Then the passengers of this flight had to be taken to Chicago by Canadian Air Force aircraft. Meanwhile, Delhi-bound passengers faced problems at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. They had to be dealt with by airport personnel, whose plane could not be seen because it was stuck in Iqaluit. The total cost of this one threat would be more than Rs 15-20 crore, which also includes the cost of grounding the Boeing 777 for so long.

Cases of threatening calls increased during the festive season

In the last few days, none of the major airlines that have been victims of these threats have commented on the issue. A senior airline official said this is the peak season of festival rush and we do not want to create fear among passengers. Suffice it to say that this is a form of financial terrorism against airlines and should be dealt with sternly.

such complaints are coming continuously

IndiGo has also received threats against several flights, both domestic and international. There are many times when a flight receives a threat message and is not diverted. The destination airport tells him/her to hold or hover. This has happened with Air India in London, AI Express in Singapore and probably others too. A pilot reported that a Boeing 777 burns 7-8 tonnes of fuel every hour and an A320 2.5 tonnes. At Rs 1 lakh per tonne and two hours of hovering, the cost of fuel burn alone is more than several crores for all the affected airlines.

Can’t even ignore threats

“Due to the extra time spent in the air, very often the same crew member may not operate the next flight,” said a senior executive of a major airline. At the same time, it will be operated for flight only after being cleared after investigation by flight security agencies. They will need to be provided rest and accommodation in hotels in that city. Although this is an unexpected event beyond our control, many passengers who miss their connections when the flight is delayed threaten to drag us to court. In such a situation, we ultimately have to compromise by paying compensation.

how to put reins

What makes matters worse is that there are often two types of threats made. A threat is one that names a specific flight number. Secondly, in the usual way, like Air India received a threat on Thursday. It said that there are bombs in five AI flights. An official said that a risk assessment is done. The source of the threat is seen, whether it comes via X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, call or mail.

How do airlines take action after threats?

Based on its evaluation metrics, the code is decided. This includes red (very serious), amber (serious) or green (most likely to be a fake call). However, danger is not ruled out under any circumstances as it is better to be safe. Even if it means losses and passengers’ displeasure and apologies.

A pilot said that in such cases, if there is a serious situation, the flight has to land at the nearest suitable airport. To avoid sudden landing, we can dump fuel while keeping the aircraft at an altitude of more than 5,000 feet. Fuel released from that altitude will evaporate. In Delhi, we dump near Sakras in the south of the capital and in Mumbai above the sea.