Amritsar Airport: High Alert Sounded, Flight Ops Suspended After ATC Spots ‘Drone-Like’ Objects

The ATC tower spotted a sudden movement of three objects resembling drones in the airspace on Monday night which disrupted the landing and taking off operations of scheduled flights at the Amritsar Airport for around three hours.

A high alert was sounded and flight operations were disrupted at the Shri Guru Ramdas International Airport, popularly known as the Amritsar Airport, in Punjab’s Amritsar city after three drone-like objects were spotted by the air traffic control (ATC) tower.

According to officials, the ATC  tower spotted a sudden movement of three objects resembling drones in the airspace on Monday night which disrupted the landing and taking off operations of scheduled flights for around three hours.

A senior official said the incident occurred on Monday at 10.10 pm and the suspiciously moving drone-like objects remained active almost for three hours, resulting in the suspension of all flight operations at the airport from 10.10 pm to 12.45 am.

Flight services were later resumed following a clearance from the ATC tower, Sandeep Aggarwal, officiating Director of Shri Guru Ramdas International Airport, told news agency PTI.

Aggarwal said the airport authorities immediately informed the police after the movement of the drone-like objects was noticed, but they (police) are yet to determine if the objects were indeed drones and who was operating them, adding the help of the local Air Force station adjoining the airport was also sought in the matter.

The director said it was the first time that such objects were seen in the Amritsar Airport’s airspace and it was a matter of deep concern for the authorities due to the close proximity of the airport to the Indo-Pak border.

Meanwhile, police said the Airport Authority filed a complaint in the matter following which a comprehensive joint search operation was launched with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

“We questioned several people from various adjoining villages around the airport but they had no clue about the objects flying around the airport,” said SHO Airport, Harsimar

She said usually when drones move in the air, the lights fitted atop blink, but in this case there was a “single spotlight” as per airport authority.

Investigation is on in the matter and it is too early to say whether they were drones or some other article, the officer added.

(With PTI inputs)