Bomb threat forces Air India Express flight to land at Ayodhya airport

Air India Express flight (file photo)

An Air India Express flight made a forced landing in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya airport on October 15 following bomb threat, said the Airport's Director Vinod Kumar.

The plane had taken off from Jaipur, Kumar told PTI, confirming the landing.

Commenting on the incident, a company spokesperson said: “Air India Express, along with a few other operators, received a specific security threat from an unverified social media handle. In response, security protocols were promptly activated as directed by the Government-appointed Bomb Threat Assessment Committee. The flight landed safely, and the aircraft will be released for operations following all mandated security procedures.”

Commercial flight operations at the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhya Dham were launched earlier this year.

The development comes days after multiple incidents of flights getting bomb threats were reported.

While an Air India flight was diverted to New Delhi shortly after taking off from Mumbai on Monday, two more IndiGo flights from the city received bomb threats on Monday morning, according to ANI. While flight 6E 56 was operating from Mumbai to Jeddah, the other — 6E 1275 — was flying to Muscat.

(With PTI inputs)