Over the weekend, we saw a long haul American Airlines flight make a bizarre diversion over a security threat. We now have some more details about what happened…
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 initially described as being due to “a possible security concern.”
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. The Italian government even shared some pictures of this unique mission.
Upon landing in Rome, law enforcement inspected the aircraft, and it was cleared to depart. However, as you’d expect, the crew had timed out at that point, and couldn’t work any more hours. So all passengers and crew stayed in Rome overnight, and the expectation is that the plane will continue to Delhi today (Monday, February 24, 2025).
I’m curious how the logistics worked out with time on the ground. Presumably many travelers didn’t have the visas required to enter the European Union, so were exceptions made, or did some passengers have to stay in the terminal?
The bomb threat was determined to be non-credible
Airlines do occasionally deal with security threats that prompt diversions. What’s 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 a security concern? Well, we now have some details. Apparently, the aircraft received a threat that a bomb would detonate on approach to Delhi.
American shares that “the possible issue was determined to be non-credible, but per DEL Airport protocol, an inspection was required before landing at DEL.” So yeah, even though the threat was determined to not be credible, the plane wasn’t allowed to land in Delhi.
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 were. 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. It appears that in this case, authorities forced the plane to divert, so the airline had no option.
I think this also sheds light on why the plane backtracked all the way to Rome. If the airline knows that it needs to land in a country other than India and that passengers are going to be stuck overnight, it helps to land at a station that regularly has service from the airline. I can see why a diversion to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, or Pakistan, might not be that appealing. 😉
I can’t even begin to imagine just how wasteful this whole exercise was, in terms of fuel burn, wasted time, etc.
Bottom line
An American Boeing 787 flying from New York to Delhi diverted to Rome over a bomb threat that was determined to be non-credible. 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.
Ultimately what happened here is that the threat was determined to be non-credible, but India wouldn’t give the plane permission to land, unless an inspection was first carried out. So that left the crew with no choice but to divert, and Rome was determined to be the most suitable alternate.
What do you make of this strange American 787 bomb threat situation?
The people who post these threats on social media need to be dealt with much more harshly. Ideally executed. They are basically terrorists, even if just 15yo posting on social media.
Yes, and to be thorough we should exterminate all of their species, there is no other way to stop them…
I don't know what happened in this case, but the Schengen Border Codex allows for issuance of visa at the border checkpoint in exceptional circumstances, which is mostly intended for situations like this, when someone ends up in the EU without planning it (against their will, if you want). If reasonability is applied, it's fairly safe to assume that people flying from the US to India are not likely to ad hoc decide to stay in the EU long term illegally.
As inconvenient as this operation was for all concerned, one has to acknowledge that the only losses incurred was time.
AA delivered all passengers and crew to safety, therefore, all concerned should be commended for their part in this drama.
Just look at the map. it's pretty clear you dont want to land the plane in any of the surrounding countries. If the plane continued and had to make an emergency landing, now you're over Pakistan or Afghanistan or possibly having to go into Iran.
Baku and Tbilisi would be no point, and probably wasn'tt capable of handling something like this. Not sure why they didnt go to Turkey, but going to Rome was...
Just look at the map. it's pretty clear you dont want to land the plane in any of the surrounding countries. If the plane continued and had to make an emergency landing, now you're over Pakistan or Afghanistan or possibly having to go into Iran.
Baku and Tbilisi would be no point, and probably wasn'tt capable of handling something like this. Not sure why they didnt go to Turkey, but going to Rome was obviously b/c AA has ops there, though to backtrack that far, might as well of landed in Delhi
Odd they went all the way back to FCO. Surely massive IST had capacity and Turkey might be easier for more folks to enter the country? Quite a bit closer and the flight path passed almost over the Bosporus.
I bet the service onboard stopped once they started heading to Rome. Due to the “security” concern.
There is service on American?
If I were the captain, and *knew* this was an obvious case of false alarm (with no actual threat on board) due to the India social media “threat” hoaxes, I would assume that continuing to India might create more “drama” on the ground, if they even let me enter India airspace. So it makes perfect sense to backtrack and divert to the nearest AA station in Europe, rather than “buying into the drama” and doing an emergency landing in a random place like Baku.
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?
ABC covered this. Indian ATC wouldn't allow them in until the flight was inspected elsewhere
The Indians. Naturally.
I'd say Indian capital has a much better track record in recent times of avoiding aviation accidents so if I were the AA pilot i'd keep my voice down and follow their instructions.
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.
Both Georgia and Azerbaijan have a much more liberal visa policy than the Schengen Zone and definitely easier for both Indians and Americans visa-wise (who would presumably be the bulk of pax on this aircraft)
Both Georgia and Azerbaijan have a much more liberal visa policy than the Schengen Zone and definitely easier for both Indians and Americans visa-wise (who would presumably be the bulk of pax on this aircraft)
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
This makes sense if the bomb threat obviously isn’t credible, but it’s being irrationally treated as such by Indian authorities. I’d wager this is an entirely domestic-to-India issue, basically the aviation version of “swatting”, which AA and the crew of this plane knew was and entirely false alarm… but which meant they could no longer land in India, so they had to backtrack, and Rome is a reasonably convenient place to land that doesn’t create...
This makes sense if the bomb threat obviously isn’t credible, but it’s being irrationally treated as such by Indian authorities. I’d wager this is an entirely domestic-to-India issue, basically the aviation version of “swatting”, which AA and the crew of this plane knew was and entirely false alarm… but which meant they could no longer land in India, so they had to backtrack, and Rome is a reasonably convenient place to land that doesn’t create even more logistical headaches over an obvious false alarm.
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
Sheesh...united.com. Don't be so lazy.
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.