"An all clear was given to both the flights after about four hours of conducting anti-sabotage checks. The bomb call turned out to be hoax," a senior airport security official said in the evening.
Officials at the airport said while the Air India flight to Bhubaneswar took off at 5:20 PM, Royal Nepal Airlines' Kathmandu-bound flight was waiting for "operational" clearance. There were also reports that four Members of Parliament were booked on the AI flight.
Soon after the call was received, passengers on board the two aircraft were evacuated and taken to the isolation bay where security agencies carried out anti-sabotage checks.
While the Kathmandu flight had 155 passengers and nine crew members, the flight bound for Odisha's capital had 169 fliers and seven crew members.
Security personnel from the CISF and Delhi Police had cordoned off the two planes along with bomb disposal squads, the officials said.
They added police is trying to track the number, location and person who made the hoax call to the airport call centre.
(Reopens DEL 61)
Officials said the hoax call was made from a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facility by using multiple Internet Protocol addresses and hence sleuths were finding it difficult to probe its exact origin.
