Delhi-Birmingham flight diverted to Riyadh following bomb threat: Air India

An Air India flight from Birmingham to the national capital was diverted to Riyadh due to a bomb threat on Saturday and landed safely in the Saudi city.

In a statement on Sunday, the Tata Group-owned airline, which has temporarily reduced services ensure operational stability, said alternative arrangements are being made to fly the passengers from Riyadh to their destinations.

“Flight AI114 from Birmingham to Delhi of 21 June received a bomb threat and was consequently diverted to Riyadh where it has landed safely and has completed security checks. All passengers have been deplaned and are being provided hotel accommodation,” it said.

In the wake of the fatal crash of its aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 12, Air India has voluntarily undertaken enhanced pre-flight safety checks and temporary reduction of services to improve stability.

“Despite all efforts, due to extraneous factors such as airspace closures in the Middle East, nighttime curfew at several airports in Europe and East Asia, air traffic congestion, unforeseen operational issues, certain flights get delayed or cancelled,” the carrier said.

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The airline also mentioned that sometimes, certain challenges lead to last-minute disruptions.

Meanwhile, Aviation safety regulator DGCA has asked flight operations inspectors to provide details of all inspections and audits conducted for Air India since 2024.

The details on the findings of the inspections and audits will have to be submitted by today, they said.

In an e-mailed communication, which came a day after the regulator issued a show-cause notice to the airline for flight duty time limitations (FDTL) violation, and also ordered removal of the airline’s three senior officials from their respective roles for certain lapses, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought these details for 2024 and 2025 (to date), the sources said.

The data has been sought on planned and unplanned inspections, audit, cockpit/ enroute, station facility, ramp and cabin inspection among others, as per the communication.

The Tata Group airline has been facing intense scrutiny since one of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on June 12, killing over 270 people on board and on the ground.

The inspection and audit details sought by the safety regulator include findings on ramp and cabin, among others