The Indian aviation industry is facing an unprecedented situation in the wake of bomb hoaxes flooding social media networks. In the last few days, over 170 flights run by Indian airlines and thousands of passengers bore the brunt of these fake threats.
Security experts attributed the hoax bomb calls to factors ranging from malicious intent and attention-seeking to mental health issues.
Worried over the sheer number of fake bomb threats, the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) tweaked its aviation security protocol based on a set of new “red flags”. There is a common pattern in all these fake bomb threats, which include the use of virtual private networks (VPN), and recently created social media accounts. However, if the security agencies ignore threats based on these parameters, but the bomb threat does turn out to be true, it would erode people’s trust in air travel.
Even if the intent behind such bomb threats is mere pranking, the government should not consider this practice as the new normal that passengers must get adjusted to. A step in this direction would leave the Indian aviation industry and air passengers vulnerable to terrorist attacks, meeting the same fate as the shepherd boy did in the ‘Cry Wolf’ story.
There are calls for banning people behind these hoax calls from flying for their entire life. However, this punishment could be excessive.
That said, disruption in a flight due to the bomb threat causes a loss of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh to an airline. Thousands of passengers, too, suffer mental trauma and loss of precious time.
For many in India, air travel is still not a default option and they choose it because of speed and comfort. If these very factors turn out to be mirage, the Indian aviation industry will take a serious hit. As this industry is intimately linked to economic growth, the government should brook no excuse from the pranksters involved in this sinister game and try to recover the losses from mischief makers under the Revenue Recovery Act.
