What is the flight protocol for a bomb threat? Premium

Indian airlines bomb threats: What has been the loss incurred by Indian aviation due to frequent security threats? What are the Standards and Recommended Practices to tackle such situations? Can existing laws be tweaked to hand out more stringent punishment to offenders?

The story so far:

Over nearly two weeks, almost all Indian carriers including the Tata group airlines — Air India, Vistara, and Air India Express — as well as Indigo, Alliance Air, and Star Air have faced a wave of threats, resulting in emergency responses and rerouting. There has been military fighter jet interception of some of the flights when they were in international airspace after the crew squawked an emergency transponder code. While all the threats have been determined to be a hoax, they have still led to significant flight delays and financial losses to the airlines, about ₹13 lakh-₹17 lakh an hour.

According to the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, most threats have been through social media. Intelligence agencies are looking into the issue and there is a strong possibility of cases being registered. As the threats are largely of an online nature, the tracking of IP addresses and virtual private network use are in focus. The Minister added that even if intuition was that it could be a hoax, nothing was being left unchecked. India has nearly 4,000 flight operations in a day, he said, and within the timeline since the threats began, this would mean over 275 threats for 48,000 flights. He said that efforts were on to make changes in the aviation laws in order to have a strong framework in place. There has been one detention so far — of a teenager who made hoax calls. Representatives of some of the social media platforms concerned have indicated that they are “committed to crack down on terror threats being made against Indian flights”.

Almost all the main security guidelines and directives are rooted in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Annex 17–Aviation Security (Restricted). An ICAO spokesperson told The Hindu that the formulation and adoption of Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for international civil aviation are important, which are detailed in technical annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation — also called the Chicago Convention. The ICAO has measures against acts of ‘unlawful interference against civil aviation throughout the world’. The SARPs for international aviation security form Annex 17 to the Chicago Convention.

There is also the ICAO Aviation Security Manual (Doc 8973–Restricted) which assists ICAO member-states. The spokesperson said that Annex 17 and Doc 8973 are under constant review keeping in mind new threats and evolving technological developments. The spokesperson added that there are restrictions to the information on (member-) state discussions regarding the evolution of security matters, the resulting assessments, and the associated mitigation measures. Specific ICAO guidance on security matters is restricted.

In India, the nodal agency concerned is the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. Its main responsibility is to have in place standards and measures for the security of civilian flights. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is concerned with safety. Other agencies involved, directly and indirectly, include the Airports Authority of India; the Central Industrial Security Force; the National Security Guard; the Intelligence Bureau; the Research and Analysis Wing; the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the higher judiciary.

In the context of the threats, amendments could be planned to the Aircraft Act 1934, the Aircraft Rules 1937, and subordinate pieces of legislation to ensure stringent punishment and placing offenders on a ‘no-fly list’. The Minister highlighted planned amendments to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, which would allow legal action even when the aircraft is on the ground. Regulations now focus on in-flight incidents.