The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), an independent department under the ministry of civil aviation, on Saturday called a meeting of CEOs of airlines over the series of hoax bomb calls received in the last four days, reported news agency ANI citing sources.
The meeting comes after airlines urged the government to tackle the menace at the earliest as the same is putting a huge financial burden on them. The spate of hoax calls has also led to scares abroad.
Singapore, for instance, scrambled jets on at least two occasions when an inbound flight of an Indian carrier received threats before landing there.
The ministry is also consulting with the International Civil Aviation Organisation .
Hoax threats have been pouring in since late Friday night and 29 flights across Indian carriers had got such messages till Saturday afternoon.
The situation is getting to a point where a big metro airport is running out of remote bays for parking aircraft that get threats for checks.
The civil aviation minister , amid the hoax calls, assured the public on Thursday that necessary actions were being taken and ruled out any larger conspiracy behind these events, describing them as "petty" pranks by minors and pranksters.
Also, the aviation ministry is also working on a deterrent - new rules to deal with and punish hoax callers severely. It is also looking at global best practices.
"The law department is being consulted for the legal framework of the proposed new rules. Legal opinion is being sought. We hope to put in place new regulations with harsher penalties, including putting such callers on no-fly lists for a long time," said sources.
The meeting comes after airlines urged the government to tackle the menace at the earliest as the same is putting a huge financial burden on them. The spate of hoax calls has also led to scares abroad.
Singapore, for instance, scrambled jets on at least two occasions when an inbound flight of an Indian carrier received threats before landing there.
The ministry is also consulting with the International Civil Aviation Organisation .
Hoax threats have been pouring in since late Friday night and 29 flights across Indian carriers had got such messages till Saturday afternoon.
The situation is getting to a point where a big metro airport is running out of remote bays for parking aircraft that get threats for checks.
The civil aviation minister , amid the hoax calls, assured the public on Thursday that necessary actions were being taken and ruled out any larger conspiracy behind these events, describing them as "petty" pranks by minors and pranksters.
Also, the aviation ministry is also working on a deterrent - new rules to deal with and punish hoax callers severely. It is also looking at global best practices.
"The law department is being consulted for the legal framework of the proposed new rules. Legal opinion is being sought. We hope to put in place new regulations with harsher penalties, including putting such callers on no-fly lists for a long time," said sources.
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