Airlines received 24 hoax bomb calls this year till March 2025: Govt

Airlines received 24 hoax bomb threat calls this year till March 25, the government said on Thursday.

Citing data from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 836 hoax bomb threats were received by airline operators since 2022 till March 25, 2025.

In 2022, the number of the calls stood at 13 and rose to 71 in 2023. Last year, there were 728 such calls and the count was at 24 this year up to March 25, as per the data.

In a written reply to Lok Sabha, the minister said 13 people were arrested in 2024 for making hoax bomb threat calls to airlines.

BCAS has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats in coordination with law enforcement agencies, central security agencies, CISF and stakeholders, leading to minimal impact on flight operations.

Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP) is put in place to handle such threats.

"As a part of BTCP, every airport has a designated Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) which analyses the threat and takes action.

"In order to deal with hoax bomb threats, BCAS has issued advisories to all the civil aviation stakeholders in the country to ensure maintenance of robust aviation security infrastructure and uphold public confidence in air travel," the minister said.