NEW DELHI: American Airlines New York-Delhi nonstop (AA 292) diverted to Rome Sunday evening (IST) following a bomb threat for the flight. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner had taken off from JFK on Saturday (Feb 22) 8.14 pm and was over the Caspian Sea when it turned back towards Europe. While the threat was “non-credible”, protocol of Delhi Airport required the aircraft to be inspected elsewhere before being allowed to land there.
Upon arrival in Rome — where it was escorted by two Eurofighters of the Italian Air Force, — the aircraft was checked there and cleared by security to re-depart. However, the aircraft will remain at Rome Fiumicino airport overnight for crew rest reasons and may leave for Delhi on Monday.
In a statement, American Airlines said: “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 apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.”
Last year, a number of flights within, to and from India had received a spate of hoax threat messages and calls. Multiple flights from India that had received such hoax threats were escorted by fighter jets when landing at airports abroad.