India's airlines and airports received 999 hoax bomb threats this year as of 14 November, the country's deputy civil aviation minister told its parliament. This was nearly 10 times more than the threats received in 2023, Mr Murlidhar Mohol said.

Airlines and airports in India received a total of 999 hoax bomb threats from the start of this year until Nov. 14, nearly ten times more than in the whole of 2023, the country's deputy civil aviation minister told parliament on Thursday.

A man has been arrested after a bomb hoax caused widespread rush-hour travel disruption, police said. Cheshire Constabulary said a 28-year-old man from Ellesmere Port had been detained in Chester on Tuesday "on suspicion of communicating false information".

The spike in incidents, including more than 500 threats made in the last two weeks of October, has led to rising costs for airlines.

It's been a record-setting year for hoax bomb threats at India's airports and airlines. More than 500 came in the last two weeks of October, pushing the year's total to 999 as of Nov. 14. That's almost 10 times more threats than the 122 received in all of last year,

Airports and airlines in India have been hit with nearly 1,000 fake bomb threats as of earlier this month. Yawar Nazir/ Murlidhar Mohol, the country's deputy civil aviation minister, told parliament that 999 bogus threats had been received as of Nov.

According to government data, 680 hoax calls were received in October, with the highest being made to IndiGo (197 hoax calls) followed by Air India (191).