Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to put those who make hoax bomb threats on no-fly list

NEW DELHI: Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Monday said that his ministry is considering amending existing laws to deal with hoax bomb threats on aircraft and plans to put those who make such threats on a no-fly list.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, the Civil Aviation Minister said, “From the ministry, we have thought of some legislative action if it is required. We have come to the conclusion that there are two areas that we can explore — 1) Amendment in Aircraft Security Rules… one of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list… 2) Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act”.

#WATCH | Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu speaks on recent hoax bomb calls on several domestic and international flights.

He says, “…From the Ministry, we have thought of some legislative action if it is required. We have come to the conclusion that… pic.twitter.com/q0K6MxOgK8

— ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2024

Notably, in the past few days, Spice Jet and Air Asia flights received five bomb threats each, with multiple airlines receiving a total of 30 bomb threats in the last four days. Five hoax bomb threats were received by Spice jet, regarding flights SG 55, SG 116, SG 211, SG 476, SG 2939. Five more were received by Air Asia regarding flights 9I 506, 9I 528, 9I 822, 9I 661, 9I 804.

Speaking about ‘UDAN Yojana’, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said that the government is planning to start 50 more airports or enhance the capacity of existing airports. “We are envisioning the UDAN scheme for further more 10 years. We want to take it forward for 10 years because in the next five years, we are planning to start 50 more airports or enhance the capacity of existing airports. Up to 2047, we feel that we have the capacity to increase the airports to more than 200. We have 157 today and we can take it up to 350”, he said.

He added that the ‘UDAN Yojana’ is a revolutionary initiative in civil aviation, inspired by PM Modi’s vision to democratize air travel.

“UDAN scheme has been a revolutionary scheme in civil aviation. It came out from the thought process of PM Narendra Modi who wanted to democratise air travel…The major beneficiary when we have utilised this UDAN scheme over the past 8 years has been remote areas of the country, especially the northeast areas or the hinterland areas where there was no connectivity at all. Now, they are properly connected through air travel, not just to other metropolitan cities of the country but also various other countries”, he said. (ANI)