UPDATED: RAF Typhoons escort Air India flight to make precautionary landing at Stansted airport following bomb threat
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UPDATED: The bomb threat on an Air India passenger aircraft flying to the United States on Thursday was a hoax, an official at the state-run airline and that the plane is back in the air.
EARLIER: Two RAF Typhoons have been scrambled to escort a passenger plane operated by Air India, to London after a security alert.
The Air India flight, which was en route from Mumbai to Newark Airport in New Jersey, was forced to make a “precautionary landing” at Stansted airport, the carrier said.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed it had scrambled RAF Typhoons at supersonic speed to accompany the plane. It said: “The aircraft was safely escorted to Stansted airport. The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons; any inconvenience caused to local residents is regretted.”
Stansted said its runway was briefly closed to accommodate the landing of the Air India plane, and that it had since reopened. Upon arrival at Stansted, the aircraft was parked on an isolated stand far from normal operations.
“We are sorry for any disruption caused by the incident and would like to thank you for your patience,” Stansted Airport said on Twitter.
The Boeing 777 had taken off over three hours late from Mumbai. It is not clear whether that delay was connected with security concerns.
The aircraft was just south of Belfast at the time the decision was taken to divert. Evidently the situation was not regarded as extremely serious, because instead of landing at either Belfast International or Dublin, the plane flew back to Stansted – almost an hour’s flying time.
