Ahmedabad:

The Ahmedabad-New Delhi flight of private operator Vistara was delayed by over 4 and a half hours today due to a hoax bomb call to the airliner’s call center at Gurgaon.

Flight number UK976 with scheduled departure time of 1055hrs could take off at 1527 hrs.

Airport Director Manoj Gangal said, ‘Local Vistara Airline at SVPI Airport received a call from their call centre in Gurgaon that there is an explosive in their Ahmedabad flight. Receiving the information, BTAC (Bomb Threat Assessment Committee) was convened immediately at SVPI Airport. The committee viewed the call as ‘Non Specific’ but advised for following of complete security drill. After thorough checks, the flight no. UK976 was cleared for operation at time 1415 IST.’

‘General comfort of the passengers was taken care, including the pax with special needs. A few passengers who wished to be rescheduled were helped in doing so,’ he added.

Gangal said that the search was conducted before the boarding process.

The flight finally took off at 1527hrs.

DeshGujarat