Bomb hoax: We tracked 95 affected flights. Here’s what we found

More than 150 flights received fake bomb threats in just a week. India Today identified 95 of these flights and tracked their paths to see any hidden pattern. Here is what we found.
Of the total number, 41 flights either originated or were destined for an Indian city. The rest were operating between Indian cities.
At least one dozen of these flights sent emergency alerts to air traffic control (ATC) when they were up in the air. These include flights of Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, and Vistara heading to destinations like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Jaipur, London, and Hong Kong, as per flight tracking site Flightradar24.
Of the 12 flights, one was cancelled while the other two had to shun their scheduled flight path. While Delhi-Bengaluru Akasa Air AKJ133E had to return from Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh, London-bound Vistara flight VTI017 – flying from Delhi – was diverted to Frankfurt in Germany.
The emergency alert was identified as Squawk 7700, which is relayed by pilots to indicate that an aircraft is experiencing an emergency situation. This code is part of a system of squawk codes, which are four-digit numbers that pilots input into the aircraft’s transponder to communicate with ATC.
Aircraft flying from Delhi and Mumbai were the worst affected. As many as 15 flights originating from the national capital and 14 from Mumbai received bomb hoaxes between October 15 and October 22, our analysis shows.
Four flights each operating from Goa and Hyderabad, and three each from Ayodhya, Kochi, and Singapore were affected.

The analysis is based on data sourced and corroborated from open sources like statements issued by airlines and media reports.
Among airlines, IndiGo and Akasa Air were the worst-affected. At least 26 flights of IndiGo and 20 of Akasa were sent fake messages, mostly through social media and email, about the presence of explosives in their aircraft.
Vistara was the third most affected airline with 19 flights, followed by Air India Express (11), and Air India and SpiceJet (6 each), as per the analysis.
Media reports suggest that passengers were disembarked from many of these flights for thorough security checks. At least one aircraft bound to Singapore was escorted by Singapore’s fighter jets away from populated areas before being allowed to land.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said that making hoax bomb threat calls to airlines will be made a cognisable offence. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) held a meeting with CEOs and representatives of airlines in New Delhi on October 19. As per reports, the government is planning to put those making hoax calls on the no-fly list.