Bomb threats on international flights 'very rare'

Bomb threats on international flights are rare, an aviation expert says.

Air New Zealand flight NZ247 landed safely at Sydney Airport on Saturday following reports of a bomb threat on board.

Passengers waited more than two hours once landing on the tarmac.

Aviation commentator Irene King told Morning Report it was tricky for Air New Zealand as passengers were getting information from social media, which may not have been completely correct.

She said the airline had described it as an 'aviation security incident' and there may have been other things going on too.

"These people, they're trained to deal with these issues.. I'm surprised there were gaps in communication."

Bomb threats were "pretty rare" but there were "very clear procedures" for dealing with them when the arouse, King said.

Air New Zealand declined an interview on Morning Report on Monday.

In a statement on Saturday, it said standard security protocols were followed and emergency services assessed the aircraft after it landed.

"Air New Zealand apologises for the inconvenience caused to customers on both services. The safety and security of all passengers and our crew is our utmost priority."

It comes as more than 70 fake bomb threats were made against flights operated by various Indian airlines in the past week.

The latest to be affected was a flight from Mumbai to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Saturday.

Aviation safety officials have been meeting with airline executives to discuss the hoaxes.

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