Hyderabad: Was it a bomb threat or a refusal of landing permit, or a combination of both that led to a Lufthansa flight bound for Hyderabad making a U-turn and returning to Frankfurt Airport in Germany on Monday?
Flight LH752 had departed from Frankfurt and was scheduled to land at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport early Monday.
However, the aircraft turned back mid-route. “We did not receive a permit to land in Hyderabad, and that’s why the aircraft took a U-turn and returned,” Lufthansa Airlines told ANI. There was no mention of a bomb threat by Lufthansa.
The agency, however, quoted a senior official at Hyderabad airport who confirmed the aircraft’s return, stating that the bomb threat was received while the plane was still outside Indian airspace. As a result, the flight did not enter Indian territory and instead returned to its point of origin, the official said.
No further details about the nature of the threat or the aircraft’s passengers were immediately released.
The incident comes just days after a similar scare on June 13 involving an Air India flight. Flight AI 379, travelling from Phuket, Thailand, to New Delhi, was forced to make an emergency landing on the island shortly after takeoff, following a bomb threat.
The Air India aircraft had taken off from Phuket at 9.30 am when the threat was received, prompting immediate precautionary action by airport officials. Authorities are investigating both incidents, which have heightened security concerns for incoming international flights into India.
