Absurd: Bomb Threat Causes 8-Hour Air India Flight To Nowhere

One day it’s a clogged toilet, another day it’s a bomb threat…

Air India 777 returns to Mumbai over bomb threat

This incident happened today (March 10, 2025), and involves Air India flight AI119, scheduled to fly from Mumbai (BOM) to New York (JFK). The flight was operated by an 11-year-old Boeing 777-300ER with the registration code VT-AER.

The plane took off from Mumbai this morning at 2:06AM, and started its journey across India, Pakistan, Iran, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. However, around four hours after departure, as the plane entered Armenian airspace, it made a 180-degree turn, and headed back to Mumbai. The flight ended up landing there at 10:25AM local time, 8hr19min after it departed.

What was the reason for the return to Mumbai? Officially it was a “potential security threat that was detected mid-flight,” though reports suggest that it was a bomb threat. The flight has now been rescheduled for roughly 27 hours later, at 5AM on March 11, 2025.

Air India has released the following statement regarding this situation:

A potential security threat was detected mid-flight on AI119 operating Mumbai-New York (JFK) today, 10 March 2025. After following the necessary protocols, the flight air-returned to Mumbai, in the interest of the safety and security of all on board. The flight landed safely back in Mumbai at 1025 Hrs (local time). The aircraft is undergoing mandatory checks by security agencies, and Air India is extending its full cooperation to the authorities. The flight has been rescheduled to operate at 0500 Hrs of 11 March 2025, and all passengers have been offered hotel accommodation, meals, and other assistance until then. Our colleagues on the ground are making sure to minimise the inconvenience caused to our passengers by this disruption. As always, Air India accords the highest priority to the safety of passengers and crew.

India has an aviation bomb threat crisis

As of now, we don’t know how credible of a threat was made against this particular Air India 777. However, one thing is for sure — India has a bit of an issue with bomb threats. Essentially, the country takes all bomb threats impacting aviation very seriously, even if it’s as simple as some social media account with no followers claiming that there’s a bomb on a particular flight.

Of course safety is paramount and credible threats should be taken seriously, but if you ask me, India takes it to the extreme. For example, just a couple of weeks ago, a Delhi-bound American 787 diverted to Rome, after it received a bomb threat. It was determined that the threat was non-credible, but authorities in India reportedly still required a diversion, which created an operational mess.

It almost seems like these threats being taken so seriously is causing even more copycat threats, since people love how much attention they’re getting. So I find it rather extreme to take these threats so seriously.

Here’s what’s even wilder to me, though. If you’re going to take these threats seriously, what’s the point of making the decision to divert a plane, but then flying it for over four additional hours before landing? Like, is the threat serious or not? Because if there’s actually a concern over it, shouldn’t the plane divert to the nearest possible airport?

I really think India is going to have to do something to get this situation under control. We’ve heard authorities say that they’ll do more to punish those who make these threats, but perhaps the easiest solution is to simply stop giving these jokesters attention, because that’s clearly what they want.

It’s just amazing how many resources are being wasted with all of this — hundreds of thousands of pounds of jet fuel, hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs, hundreds of people wasting more than a day of their life, etc.

Bottom line

An Air India flight scheduled to operate from Mumbai to New York ended up returning to its origin after over eight hours, following a bomb threat. This has been an increasingly common issue in India, as the country takes all bomb threats seriously, even if they’re not credible.

It sure seems like the country needs to reconsider its approach, because the waste of resources here is just unbelievable.

What do you make of this Air India bomb threat diversion?