The bomb threat that forced a Vistara aircraft operating the Mumbai-Frankfurt flight UK27 to divert to the Erzurum airport in Turkey’s eastern region on Friday has turned out to be a hoax. The Turkish security agencies cleared the passengers, crew, and the aircraft after all necessary checks were concluded late on Friday. The Boeing 787 aircraft had 234 passengers and 13 crew on board.
The plane, however, could not leave for Frankfurt soon after the security checks concluded as the crew of the diverted flight had exceeded its flight duty time limitations (FDTL), which meant it could not have operated a flight without a mandatory rest period. Consequently, Vistara on Saturday dispatched an alternative aircraft with a fresh set of crew to fly the passengers stuck in Erzurum to Frankfurt.
The substitute aircraft arrived at the Erzurum airport at 3:45 PM local time (6:15 PM India time) and departed for Frankfurt at around 5:40 PM local time (8:10 PM India time). The passengers and crew of the diverted flight had been stuck in Erzurum for around 22 hours before being sent to Frankfurt.
Indian Express
