Air India passengers arriving in New York from Mumbai on Saturday were delayed by a hoax bomb threat, adding to a string of false alarms the carrier has received this month.

The pattern of bomb threats to India airlines continued for a fifth day, forcing a London-bound Vistara flight from Delhi to be diverted to Frankfurt on Friday. A Vistara spokesperson said the flight landed safely at the Frankfurt airport and mandatory checks were being conducted.

An Air India Boeing 777 from Mumbai to New York diverted to Delhi after a bomb threat, costing the airline over Rs 3 crore. This incident is part of a series of hoax threats affecting flights, resulting in financial losses of up to Rs 80 crore for various airlines.

MUMBAI, India, Oct 14: An unusual morning unfolded on October 14 for flights departing from Mumbai as bomb threats led to significant disruptions. An Air India flight en route to New York was diverted to New Delhi, while two IndiGo flights scheduled to fly to Muscat and Jeddah were halted from taking off.

Even as the intelligence and cyber security agencies are grappling to ascertain the origin and people or organisation behind the recent repeated hoax bomb threats to airlines in India and their actual intent,

Zulfiquar Hasan, the Director General of BCAS, met the CEOs of domestic airlines and assured them that all security protocols were being followed, sources said.