An American Airlines flight from New York JFK to Delhi was forced to make an emergency to Rome, Italy, after a bomb threat was made against the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with as many as 285 passengers onboard.
Flight AA292 departed New York JFK at around 8:30 pm on Saturday night for the 14-hour flight to India’s capital and most populous city, but according to data supplied by Flight Radar 24, the aircraft suddenly made a u-turn as it flew over the Caspian Sea.
The aircraft flew overnight across the Atlantic and all of Europe before heading over the Black Sea, but just as it approached the coast of Turkmenistan, the pilots made a sudden u-turn.
The aircraft then headed back towards Europe as it made an emergency diversion to Rome, where the bomb threat could be dealt with on the ground.
The choice of Rome as a diversion point may seem like an odd one, given that there are many other diversion points along the way, but American Airlines does already have a significant presence in Rome so it is equipped to assist passengers on the ground and prepare the aircraft for its onward journey once the threat has been dealt with.
The fact that American Airlines chose not to get the aircraft on the ground as quickly as possible may well give some indication of the low risk that the airline and US authorities have placed on the threat – something that American Airlines described as “non-credible.”
The Indian security services, however, have only one way to deal with bomb threats, no matter how ridiculous they might be, and that is to divert the flight and have the plane and passengers searched.
If the flight had been going from Delhi to New York JFK, then it could have ended with the flight just flying all the way to the United States without any disruption, but because the flight was headed towards India, American Airlines must comply with local regulations.
Late last year, India’s government got itself into a major bind after dozens of flights were forced to make unnecessary emergency diversions due to a slew of copycat bomb hoaxes being made against multiple flights, often on Elon Musk’s increasingly lawless X platform.
In one incident, an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago ended up diverting to the remote Canadian town of Iqaluit on the vast ice-capped Baffin Island due to a bomb threat posted online.
211 passengers and crew onboard the Boeing 777-300 were left stranded in the Canadian wilderness and had to be rescued by the Canadian Royal Air Force which had to send a jet to pick them up and take everyone the rest of the way to Chicago.
Indian officials have vowed to punish the people behind these bomb hoaxes to the fullest extent of the law, although tracking down anonymous posts on social media is no easy task.
In a statement, a spokesperson for American Airlines explained: “American Airlines flight 292, with service from New York (JFK) to Delhi (DEL), diverted to Rome (FCO) due to a possible security concern.”
“The flight landed safely at FCO, and law enforcement inspected and cleared the aircraft to re-depart. Safety and security are our top priorities and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
The pilots and flight attendants are no longer legally permitted to work until they have had some rest, so the passengers will be put up in a hotel overnight before the flight continues to Delhi.
Rome is safe, it has good infrastructure and favorable geography.