Tehran-Guangzhou Mahan Air flight gets bomb threat in Indian airspace, ignores it, lands in China
A Mahan Air flight from Tehran, Iran heading to Guangzhou, China became one of the most-tracked flights worldwide on FlightRadar24, and with good reason on October 3. A bomb threat on the flight got Indian authorities on alert as the flight entered Indian airspace.
What happened? Mahan Air flight W581/IRM081 flying from Tehran (Iran) to Guangzhou (China) received a bomb threat. The flight has since landed in Guangzhou. This is how the events transpired:
- 4.17 am (Iran time; 6.17 am IST): The flight took off.
- Delhi ATC reportedly got the information about the bomb threat from Lahore ATC in Pakistan, following which India alerted the pilots.
- The Mahan Air flight circled over New Delhi for a while, waiting for permission to land.
- The flight remained in Indian airspace for 40 minutes.
- However, the Delhi ATC asked the flight to land in Jaipur or in Chandigarh.
- The Indian Air Force scrambled together fighter jets to shadow the flight till it left Indian airspace.
- Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets from Punjab and Jodhpur airbases were put into action to intercept the flight.
- The flight refused to land in Jaipur or Chandigarh.
- The IAF said: The aircraft was offered the option to land at Jaipur and then, at Chandigarh. However, the pilot declared his unwillingness to divert to either of the two airports. After a while, intimation was received from Tehran to disregard the bomb scare, following which, the aircraft continued on its journey towards its final destination."
- Tehran later told IAF to disregard the bomb scare.
- Later, the IAF confirmed that the flight left the Indian airspace.
- The flight has since landed in Guangzhou, China.
Mahan Air: It is one of Iran's largest private airliners. The US has long held that Mahan Air has a "record of ferrying weapons and terrorists around the world for Iran" and sanctioned the airline for the same. In 2020, the US also sanctioned two companies and an individual for procuring parts for Mahan Air.
Mahan Air was recently in the news for 're-activating' the world's last Boeing 747-300 still in passenger service, after 5 years of maintenance.