Amritsar Airport operations suspended after drone sightings, 7 flights diverted

Flight operations were suspended at Amritsar Airport for nearly an hour and a half due to drone sightings across the airfield. Seven flights were diverted due to the incident.

According to Airport Director Anirudh Kumar Sharma, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit received a report from the Air Force at around 9.45 pm informing that drones were spotted across the airfield. Following the communication, the airport authorities activated a Joint Action Committee, which assembled at the control tower.

Seven flights diverted amid disruption

According to an ANI report, the committee came to the conclusion that drones could disrupt scheduled landings, following which flight operations were suspended around 9:50 pm.

"At approximately 9:45 pm, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit received a report from the Indian Air Force stating that drones had been spotted across the airfield. By that time, several aircraft scheduled to land in Amritsar were already circling overhead,” said Airport Director Anirudh Kumar Sharma.

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“Following our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for drone sightings, a Joint Action Committee was activated and assembled in the control tower. They determined that the drone activity could disrupt scheduled landings, so the decision was made to close the airfield for operations," he added as quoted by ANI.

Seven flights, including two to Chandigarh and five to Delhi, were diverted, said Sharma. Police are investigating the incident.

Operations resume after assessment

"Airport operations were suspended around 9:50 pm. In the meantime, we had to divert aircraft that were holding overhead; there were approximately seven such aircraft. Two flights were diverted to Chandigarh, and five were diverted to Delhi. Around 23:00 hours (11:00 pm), the Joint Action Committee assessed that the situation was under control and--since there was no further drone activity--decided to resume normal operations; we declared operations open starting at 23:15 hours,” said Sharma.

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Subsequently, the flights began returning. Of the seven diverted flights, five returned; one Air India flight that had gone to Delhi was cancelled, and the Malaysia flight is expected to arrive today. Everything has returned to normal. As for the investigation, that matter is being handled by the police," he added.