Jaipur (TDI): An Air India flight travelling from Frankfurt, Germany, to New Delhi was diverted to Jaipur on Wednesday following a suspected hijack alert and a reported bomb threat, according to Indian media reports.
Flight AI-2030 landed safely at Jaipur International Airport at 9:35 am local time and was moved to an isolation bay for security checks, India Today reported, citing sources. Initial checks indicated that the aircraft was operating normally, the report said.
All passengers aboard the flight were reported safe, while airport authorities began the process of disembarking them and examining the circumstances surrounding the alert.
According to preliminary information cited in the report, Ahmedabad Air Traffic Control received an emergency signal from the aircraft for several seconds at around 9 am.
The pilot activated Squawk 7500, an internationally recognized transponder code used to discreetly alert air traffic control to a suspected hijacking or unlawful interference with an aircraft.
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Separately, Hindustan Times, citing police sources, reported that the emergency landing followed a bomb threat. Authorities were investigating the incident, and the precise circumstances behind the alert had not been established in the initial reports.
Airport management said the situation was under control and that all passengers were safe.
The Air India incident comes less than two weeks after a separate security incident involving a Flydubai flight travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
On September 30, Flydubai flight FZ1073, carrying 174 passengers, made an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia, after an altercation was reported in the cockpit.
Flydubai confirmed that an altercation had occurred in the flight deck and said the crew secured the aircraft before diverting it safely to Saudi Arabia.
Airport officials said both the captain and first officer were injured and taken to hospital. All passengers and crew members were reported safe and accounted for.
Saudi Arabia’s National Transport Safety Centre subsequently said its investigation team had begun examining the incident in coordination with relevant authorities. The investigation aims to establish the circumstances surrounding the altercation, assess aviation safety issues and gather relevant evidence.
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Passengers later continued their journey to Tel Aviv aboard an alternative aircraft provided by Flydubai.
Reports surrounding the Flydubai incident also raised allegations that the individual involved had intended to hijack the aircraft and crash it into a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. Those allegations should be distinguished from the airline’s confirmed account of a cockpit altercation and the subsequent diversion.
