Air India gets a hijack threat, airports put on high alert

New Delhi: After Air India received a phone call on Saturday warning of an attempt to hijack a flight to Pakistan, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) issued an alert to airports and airlines, asking them to ensure various measures including intensive checking of vehicles entering the car parking area to prevent possibility of car bomb attacks.

This is significant, given the Pulwama terror attack.

The last time that a flight of an Indian carrier was hijacked was in 1999 when a flight of the erstwhile Indian Airlines was hijacked from the Nepalese Capital Kathmandu to the Afghan city of Kandahar.