Air India flight makes emergency landing in Thailand after bomb threat; all passengers off plane

BANGKOK: An Air India flight from Phuket in Thailand to India’s capital New Delhi received an onboard bomb threat on Friday (Jun 13) and made an emergency landing on the island, airport authorities said.

All 156 passengers on flight AI 379 had been escorted from the plane, in line with emergency plans, an Airports of Thailand official said.

The aircraft took off from Phuket airport bound for the Indian capital at 9.30am (10.30am, Singapore time) on Friday, but made a wide loop around the Andaman Sea and landed back on the southern Thai island, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.

The incident follows the crash of an Air India flight in Ahmedabad on Thursday shortly after takeoff, in which more than 240 people were killed.

Authorities have not found a bomb on the plane after a preliminary search, said the official.

A bomb threat note, however, was found. The passenger who found it is being questioned, he added.

Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Indian airlines and airports were inundated with hoax bomb threats last year, with nearly 1,000 hoax calls and messages received in the first 10 months, nearly 10 times that of 2023.