Mahan Air. File photo: Xinhua

 
Mahan Air confirmed on Monday afternoon that a bomb threat linked to a flight from Tehran, Iran, to Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, was a false alarm. The aircraft had landed safely, the company confirmed on its Twitter account. 

Mahan Air said it had contacted the company's flight operation center after receiving reports of a bomb threat and later confirmed that the incident was a false alarm.

This kind of false alarm amid the current international and domestic atmosphere is aimed at disturbing security and peace, Mahan Air said.

The aircraft has landed in Guangzhou safely, Mahan Air noted. 

The Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou said later Monday they initiated emergency response after receiving report of bomb threat at  W5081 flight from Tehran, Iran. They detected no abnormality at the aircraft after it landed around 5 pm. The return flight would take off tonight as scheduled.

The announcements came amid circulating media reports claiming that a Mahan Air aircraft had been the subject of a bomb threat after it took off from Tehran bound for Guangzhou.

According to media reports, while the aircraft was in Indian airspace, Mahan Air contacted Delhi airport ATC after it received the bomb threat. The pilot asked permission for an immediate landing at Delhi. Delhi ATC suggested the aircraft redirect to Jaipur but according to ANI, the pilots refused and left Indian airspace.

India's air force said on Monday it had scrambled fighter jets after receiving information about the bomb scare. The air force said it later received information from lran's capital Tehran to disregard the bomb scare and the flight continued its journey.

According to industry information platform VariFlight, a Mahan Air flight departed from Tehran on Monday at 4:17 am and landed in Guangzhou at 5:02 pm. 

The aircraft hovered for a while when it was in India's airspace, according to trajectory chart of the flight on VariFlight.     

Global Times