Irritated Passenger's ‘Bomb’ Comment Delays Akasa's Varanasi-Mumbai Flight for Several Hours

Another Varanasi-bound Akasa flight was delayed on Sunday after a remark made by an exasperated passenger triggered security staff to carry out extensive pre-boarding checking ahead of the scheduled time.

The Mumbai to Varanasi flight, which was scheduled to take out at around 2:30 pm will now operate later on Sunday night.

According to TOI, the incident happened when one of the passengers, apparently annoyed by strict pre-boarding checks irked “Mere Paas Bomb Hai Kya” which alerted security personnel at the airport and led to an even thorough checking before the boarding.

Her comments led to CISF getting alerted and then the protocol to deal with such situations was triggered which involved asking all passengers who had boarded the aircraft to alight, TOI reported.

Meanwhile, the airline released a statement stating the revised timings and informing the passengers that the delay was caused due to security protocols.

“Akasa Air flight QP 1497, scheduled to fly from Varanasi to Mumbai at 2.50 pm on October 1, 2023, received a security alert during the boarding process. We have followed all required security procedures and all passengers have been deplaned and are safe. Akasa Air is working with local authorities to complete all subsequent security requirements,” the statement read.

This comes two days after an Akasa aircraft from Mumbai with 166 people on board had to make an emergency landing at Varanasi airport after the airline received a bomb threat message on social media.

he airline said the captain of the flight QP 1498 received an “emergency alert” from the Varanasi Air Traffic Controller and followed all required emergency procedures and landed the plane safely at Varanasi.

“At 1130 am, Akasa Air got a bomb threat message on social media. We informed the local police in Mumbai and initiated the procedure for filing an FIR,” the spokesperson said.

Varanasi Airport Director Puneet Gupta said that after a thorough security check, nothing objectionable was found and the aircraft was declared safe.

“Akasa Air flight QP 1498, flying from Mumbai to Varanasi on September 29, 2023 received an emergency alert from Air Traffic Control. The captain followed all required emergency procedures and landed safely in Varanasi,” the airline said in a statement.