An Air India Kolkata-Mumbai flight carrying 105 passengers took off after a seven-hour delay on Wednesday when cabin crew found a note threatening to hijack the aircraft while it was taxiing for take-off at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
The flight, AI 2772, was an Airbus A-320 registered as VT-TNH. Airport authorities said the note was discovered inside the aircraft’s lavatory at 10.37am. According to airport sources, the note stated: “Flight AI 2772 will be hijacked at 11.11am.”
The pilot aborted the take-off procedure after the note was found. The aircraft was moved to an isolation bay, where all passengers were offloaded and security checks were conducted. Personnel from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security took over the scanning process, while the aircraft and its registered baggage were examined.
Airport officials said that no suspicious object was found during the checks. Police also collected handwriting samples from all 105 passengers, the pilot and cabin crew, as well as ground-handling staff who had handled the aircraft while it was parked at the airport.
A police source said the note had been written in capital letters. Passengers, crew members and ground staff were therefore asked to write the same message in capital letters so that investigators could compare the handwriting. Security personnel also questioned passengers, pilots and cabin crew as part of the inquiry.
Boarding resumed after the checks were completed in the afternoon. The aircraft eventually departed for Mumbai at 5.38pm, an official said, extending the scheduled journey’s disruption by about seven hours.
The incident illustrates the operational consequences of a security alert inside a busy airport, where an aircraft cannot be cleared for departure until the aircraft, baggage, passengers and the chain of personnel who accessed the plane have been examined. The process can also affect passengers travelling beyond the immediate sector.
An airline official said hijack and bomb hoaxes caused substantial losses for carriers and inconvenience for passengers. “Many passengers have connecting flights that they miss because of a hoax. The security protocol has to be followed. Also, once an aircraft gets stranded, the airline’s schedules also go haywire,” the official said.
The police investigation into the source of the note and the handwriting comparison was continuing after the flight departed. No suspicious material was found during the security checks reported by airport officials.
