Air India and IndiGo flights grounded after bomb threats in India

Three international flights to the US and the Middle East from India were diverted or grounded on Monday after Mumbai International Airport received bomb threats.

An Air India flight carrying 239 passengers from Mumbai to New York was diverted to the capital, New Delhi, the airline said. Two IndiGo flights were the subjects of similar threats. The aircraft were taken to an isolated area for security checks, IndiGo airlines said.

Flight AI 119 from Mumbai to John F Kennedy International Airport made an emergency landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, where all passengers and 19 crew members were safe.

The aircraft was parked at an isolated runway where security agencies, including a bomb squad, carried out checks. The passengers were moved to hotels and the flight was rescheduled for October 15, an Air India representative told The National.

The Mumbai airport had received a message on X regarding a bomb threat.

One of the IndiGo flights was bound to Muscat in Oman and the other to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

“As per protocol, the aircraft was taken to an isolated bay and following the standard operating procedure, mandatory security checks were conducted,” IndiGo said.

Air India Express is run by a fully owned division of Air India, which conglomerate Tata Group purchased from the government in 2022.

The incidents come days after an Air India Express plane bound for Sharjah was forced to make an emergency landing after a hydraulic failure was reported following take-off.

The flight, from Trichy in Tamil Nadu state to the Emirates, had 141 people on board. It returned safely to its airport of departure at 8.15pm local time (6.45pm UAE) after a full emergency was declared about two hours earlier.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Air India and IndiGo flights grounded after bomb threats in India

The planes were en route from Mumbai to Jeddah, Muscat and New York