India has asked Canada to step up security for Air India flights, including those flying out of Vancouver and Toronto, but Canadian authorities have not yet confirmed, as it has put the airports on alert.
An unsupported video threat circulating on social media, and reported on by many news outlets in India, warns individuals not to travel on Air India on the 19th of November because their lives could be in danger.
Recently according to a post in the Hindustan Times, India has asked Canada to step up security on Air India flights following the threat.
The Indian media outlet reported that India’s high commissioner to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, said, we shall take up the threat against Air India flights originating from and terminating in Canada, with the Canadian authorities concerned.
In Metro Vancouver travel agencies say that threat has heightened concern about flying that day and generally it comes at a time, when the industry was slowly getting back to normal after the lifting of India’s ban on processing visas for Canadian travelers to India.
Nitin Gaba, director of operations at Gaba Travel says that, because of the threat there wasn’t many cancellations and what complicates things further is that because of the previous visa restriction, this season has been significantly slower.
The number of individuals travelling from Vancouver to India was much less than normal. said Nitin, who said the agency had just began seeing an uptick once the visas were opened. He also added that, there’s a heightened concern, but generally speaking the threat hasn’t affected travel so far.
According to a recent statement the Vancouver International Airport said staff are in constant contact with many agencies which form many layers of security in and around the airport.
A YVR spokesperson said they are aware of the threat to Air India and are closely working with federal security agencies tasked with assessing the credibility of the information given.
President of Khalsa Diwan Society in Surrey, Balwant Singh Gill considered the threat very serious especially because of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985 remains on the minds of Canadians. Gill mentioned that he would like the Canadian government or RCMP to urge social media companies to remove the video. Air India functions with many direct flights each week to New Delhi from Vancouver and Toronto airports.
