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…
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?
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