An American Airlines flight from JFK airport to Delhi was forced to divert to Rome — and dramatically landed Sunday under fighter escort — after a bomb threat on board.
The 199 passengers and 15 crew members on American Airlines Flight 292 endured nearly 15 hours stuck on the plane as a result of the scare.
The flight was just two hours from its destination when it made an abrupt U-turn over the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan due to a “possible security issue,” the airline confirmed.
Passengers said the first sign they had that something was wrong was when the captain announced a “diversion due to a security issue,” before the aircraft made a sharp 180-degree turn away from the Indian capital and back towards Europe.
👀 This is the view inside an Italian Air Force fighter jet escorting an American Airlines flight following a bomb threat.
The plane was traveling from New York to New Delhi and was diverted to Rome Sunday due to a bomb threat. pic.twitter.com/IKvfMz44rb
— Gage Goulding – KPRC 2 (@GageGoulding) February 23, 2025
“I felt a little panic of, OK, what’s going on here?” passenger Neeraj Chopra, who was traveling