Air India flight bound for Delhi returns to Phuket following bomb threat

The aircraft took off from Phuket airport at 9:30 am local time and instead of proceeding towards India, it made a wide loop over the Andaman Sea and headed back to the Thai island. The route was tracked and confirmed by Flightradar24.

An AOT official confirmed that passengers were escorted off the plane without incident. However, no specific details about the nature or source of the bomb threat were disclosed.

Air India has not issued a formal statement on the incident and has not responded to media queries so far. Local Thai authorities are continuing to investigate the threat.

This isn’t the first time Indian carriers have faced such threats. Last year, Indian airlines and airports reported nearly 1,000 hoax bomb threats in the first ten months alone — roughly ten times the number recorded in 2022.

The incident also comes just a day after a tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, which claimed over 240 lives shortly after takeoff. The two events, while unrelated, have added to concerns over aviation safety.

(With inputs from Reuters)