Amid Bomb Hoaxes, Aviation Officials Have "Critical Leads, A Few Suspects"

The worrying flurry of bomb threats to Indian airlines - 12 in the past 48 hours - were discussed in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, sources told NDTV Wednesday.

This was preceded by a discussion between Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and officials from his ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

Aviation officials told MPs "critical leads" and a few initial suspects had been identified

Late Tuesday - after an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago was diverted to a remote airport in Canada on receipt of a bomb threat - the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security said it had launched an investigation into that hoax and the others, several of which were from one X account.

READ | Hoax Calls Ground 7 Flights, AI Jet Lands At Remote Canada Airport

In total seven flights were affected Tuesday after threats were tweeted from that handle.

READ | Aviation Body "Investigating" Bomb Threats To 10 Flights In 48 Hours

Apart from the that landed in Canada, an IndiGo service from Saudi Arabia to Lucknow made an emergency landing in Jaipur, as did an Air India Xpress flight from Jaipur to Ayodhya.

A third Air India Xpress flight, two Akasa Air planes, and an Alliance air service were also impacted.

READ | Security Alert on 2 Flights To, From Delhi Get Bomb Threat Calls

This afternoon an IndiGo from Mumbai to Delhi and Akasa Air from Delhi to Bengaluru received threats; the IndiGo was redirected to Ahmedabad and the Akasa Air returned to Delhi.

On Monday, two IndiGo and one Air India flight received threats; the Air India flight was from Mumbai to New York and the IndiGo planes were heading for Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, other issues discussed by the committee related to ticket prices and regional air connectivity, particularly the government's UDAAN scheme.

Committee members pointed to marked discrepancies in ticket prices between different airlines, particularly for the same sectors, and 'unusual' surge in prices.

These will be discussed in detail later, sources said.

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