As of now there are a lot more questions than answers, though the circumstances surrounding this are quite strange.
In this post:
Delhi-bound American 787 diverts to Rome over threat
This incident is ongoing, and involves American flight AA292, scheduled to fly from New York (JFK) to Delhi (DEL). The flight is being operated by a six-year-old Boeing 787-9 with the registration code N840AN. The flight was scheduled to depart New York at 8:20PM on Saturday, February 22, 2025, and land in Delhi at 9:35PM on Sunday, February 23, 2025.
The flight took off roughly on schedule, at 8:34PM, and began what was supposed to be a routine 14-hour journey to India, on American’s only flight to the country. For the first 10hr15min of the flight, the plane flew the standard route, over the Atlantic Ocean, then over Europe, then over the Black Sea, etc.
Right off the coast of Turkmenistan, while over the Caspian Sea, the plane made a u-turn, and started flying west again. This was reportedly due to some sort of security threat (I see some sources referring to this as a bomb threat, though I haven’t seen any official confirmation of that).
Rather than diverting to a nearby airport, the plane instead started a very long journey to Rome (FCO), which ended up taking roughly 4hr30min. The plane landed in Rome at 5:28PM local time, after a journey of roughly 14hr45min.
Interestingly, prior to entering Italian airspace, the plane had to circle for a bit. That’s because fighter jets were deployed, in order to “escort” the 787 Dreamliner for its landing.
So far, American has issued the following statement regarding this situation:
“AA 292, operating from New York to Delhi, has been diverted to Rome due to a potential security threat onboard. We are working closely with local authorities and will provide updates as the situation develops. We appreciate the patience and cooperation of our passengers.”
We’ll see what happens from here, as the plane just landed in Rome minutes ago. It’s safe to assume that the plane won’t be continuing to Delhi, given that the crew will certainly time out, after such a long journey. Presumably many travelers won’t have the visas required to enter the European Union, though perhaps exceptions can be made in these situations.
What exactly happened with this diversion?
Airlines do occasionally deal with security threats that prompt diversions. What’s so unusual here is that the plane ended up flying all the way to Rome, and the diversion there ended up taking longer than it would’ve taken to just complete the flight to Delhi.
Generally if there’s a security issue, the goal is to get on the ground as quickly as possible. So what kind of a situation would warrant flying a longer distance in order to address this? Was India unwilling to accept the aircraft due to whatever the threat was? Was the person making the threat instructing the plane to go to a certain destination?
In recent months, India has faced a bit of an airplane bomb hoax crisis. Indian carriers had to take all bomb threats seriously, no matter how obviously fake they are. For example, some people would post things like this on social media, and then airlines would respond by canceling all those flights:
Hi. There are bombs placed onboard of 5 your planes.
-Flight 6E11
-Flight 6E17
-Flight 6E58
-Flight 6E108
-Flight 6E184
No one will make it out alive.
Hurry up and evacuate the plane.
This created a bit of a copycat movement, as people got a thrill out of it. However, US airlines generally wouldn’t divert unless there’s some level of credibility, so I’m curious what exactly happened here. We’ll mark this as “developing” for now, and I’m sure we’ll learn more.
Bottom line
An American Boeing 787 flying from New York to Delhi diverted to Rome over some sort of a security threat. At the time of the threat, the plane was already way past Europe, so diverting to Rome required a huge detour. While the flight to Delhi would ordinarily take around 14 hours, the plane ended up spending nearly 15 hours in the air enroute to Rome. Here’s to hoping that everything is okay, and I’m curious to learn more details.
What do you make of this strange American 787 security situation?
Was Baku or Tbilisi not capable of accepting this flight? If the threat was real seems better to get the aircraft on the ground ASAP. FCO was further than continuing to the destination…
At that point over the Caspian Sea the plane was closer to Delhi as it was to Rome, so what gives?
This is pretty ridiculous. When in history has a bomb threat to a plane already in the air been made prior to a bomb actually being used on that plane? And even suppose it were remotely possible, if the plane is already 8 hours into the flight, something different is going to happen by landing 2 hours from now versus continuing to the destination for 4 hours?
Better backtracking to Rome than landing an aircraft full of pax and crew with no visas in Tbilisi or Baku, I guess.
Alright, let’s game this out. You’re the captain of an American (flag country, not airline) aeroplane. You receive a bomb threat you deem sufficiently credible over Caspian Sea. Why not land in nearby airports?
Well, the Caspian Sea has Iran to the South, and Russia to the North. You don’t want to be surrounded by Iranian/Russkiy fighter jets telling you to land at unfriendly territory, effectively making you and your passengers hostage. So you divert...
Alright, let’s game this out. You’re the captain of an American (flag country, not airline) aeroplane. You receive a bomb threat you deem sufficiently credible over Caspian Sea. Why not land in nearby airports?
Well, the Caspian Sea has Iran to the South, and Russia to the North. You don’t want to be surrounded by Iranian/Russkiy fighter jets telling you to land at unfriendly territory, effectively making you and your passengers hostage. So you divert to friendly skies.
But… why all the way to Rome? Large AA ops there, enough to have spare crews so passengers can get placed in a hotel courtesy of your ground crew, and flown onwards by Rome-based crew? I would’ve diverted to Türkiye, esp. Adana (Incirlik air base has NATO forces) to assist with bomb detection and follow-up. But more importantly because I’d have to land ASAP
The attached footage portraying being onboard a fighter is from the Russian military. The insignia on the upper right is Russian. Probably and excerpt of attack footage from Ukraine…
Weird, my original post wasn’t showing for me earlier. Ignore the duplicate comments
Ben, how many miles would it take to upgrade on a flight from Chicago to Dayton in mid-June on United? I know they fly an E175 on the route.... any tips?
A stupidly off topic question especially for a sub 500 mile flight SMH
I don't think the onboard footage of the fighter is of this intercept. If i remember correctly, the isignia in the upper right is of the Russian Federation military
Diversion to Rome is probably because AA has another 787 crew there that could continue the flight. This was probably the closest airport where that was true. London, Paris etc might have worked too.
Suspect you’ll see the flight continue in a few hours.