Midair photos show fighter jets scrambled to escort an American Airlines plane after a bomb threat
Ministry of Defense of Italy/Anadolu via Getty Images
- A mid-flight bomb hoax led Italy's air force to scramble jets to escort an American Airlines plane.
- The Boeing 787 was flying from New York to Delhi when the threat occurred.
- Italy's Aeronautica Militare released a series of photos of the incident unfolding.
American Airlines passengers had a whirlwind journey after a bomb threat saw their flight turn around, and fighter jets scrambled to escort the plane.
The airline said the "possible security concern" was later found to be "non-credible."
Saturday evening's Flight 292 from New York to India's capital, New Delhi, U-turned over the Caspian Sea — more than 10 hours after taking off, according to data from Flightradar24.
It then spent around four hours going back toward Italy, where the country's air force scrambled two Eurofighter jets.
In a press release, the Aeronautica Militare said it escorted the Boeing 787 to Rome Fiumicino Airport after a "bomb alert."
It also shared images of the Eurofighters following the airliner, as well as a video.
#Scramble: nel pomeriggio due #Eurofighter dell'#AeronauticaMilitare sono decollati su allarme per identificare e scortare un aereo di linea diretto a Delhi che aveva invertito rotta verso l’aeroporto di Fiumicino (RM) per una segnalazione di un presunto ordigno esplosivo a bordo pic.twitter.com/qocq43lC6H
— Aeronautica Militare (@ItalianAirForce) February 23, 2025
American Airlines said the flight landed safely in Rome, and "law enforcement inspected and cleared the aircraft to re-depart."
"Safety and security are our top priorities and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience," it added.
The Boeing 787 landed in Rome around 4 p.m. local time on Sunday. The same plane is scheduled to fly from Rome to New Delhi at 6 a.m. ET on Tuesday, per Flightradar24.
A senior official briefed on the matter told ABC News a bomb threat was received by email.
Protocol at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport required an inspection before the plane could land there, American Airlines said.
Ministry of Defense of Italy/Anadolu via Getty Images
The incident is the latest in a string of bomb threats on planes flying to or in India in recent months.
India's deputy civil aviation minister, Murlidhar Mohol, said that as of mid-November, there had been 999 hoax bomb threats in the country in 2024.
More than 500 of those were received across two weeks, and 12 people were arrested.
Last October, Singapore's Air Force scrambled two F-15s to escort an Air India Express flight, which landed safely.
The same month, an Air India flight from New Delhi to Chicago made an emergency landing in Canada's Nunavut territory after another bomb threat.
Were you a passenger on this flight? Get in touch with this reporter at [email protected].
