Amritsar Airport Issues Drone Alert After Seven Flights Diverted by Suspected Drone Sighting
Why It MattersAirports near sensitive borders face recurring drone-driven disruption risk that pushes authorities toward geofenced restriction zones and mandatory pre-notification for local drone use rather than relying solely on after-the-fact investigation.
What happened
Indian authorities declared a drone alert around Amritsar's Raja Sansi Airport on September 10, 2026, days after suspected drone-like objects triggered a 90-minute landing suspension and the diversion of seven flights. The incident began late on Sunday, September 6, when suspected drone-like objects were spotted outside the airport perimeter wall around 10 pm, approaching from the direction of Rudala village and hovering over the runway and other sensitive areas for several minutes.
Air traffic control suspended landings between 9:50 pm and 11:15 pm. Seven incoming flights were diverted — five to Delhi and two to Chandigarh — including Malaysia Airlines flight MH-118 from Kuala Lumpur, IndiGo flights 6E-5028 and 6E-2045, and Air India flight AI-479. A joint action committee assembled in response to the incident.
Anirudh Sharma, holding additional charge of airport director, confirmed the sightings and the flight diversions. SP Operations Gagandeep Singh said police have registered a first information report and formed several investigative teams. Preliminary inquiries raised the possibility that the objects were drones flown from a kabaddi tournament in a nearby village — though the tournament ended around 6 pm, hours before the sighting — or from a marriage function. Security agencies are also examining possible cross-border links, given Punjab's recent history of intercepted drones carrying contraband.
On September 10, police declared a three-kilometre red zone around the airport within which drone flight is prohibited without prior written permission, and placed the belt extending to five kilometres under yellow alert. Organisers of weddings, sporting events, and other public functions must inform police and the district administration in writing before operating a drone. DSP Raja Sansi Jagbir Singh Aulakh urged residents to comply with the restrictions, and police are making public announcements at gurdwaras in nearby villages.
Border security context
The airport lies near the Pakistan border, where security forces routinely intercept unmanned aircraft used to smuggle contraband. No origin for the September 6 objects has been established and no operator identified.
Industry impact & what to watch
Unauthorized drone activity near an active runway forces controllers into a binary choice — hold traffic on the ground or send arrivals elsewhere — and Amritsar's 90-minute suspension and seven diversions show how quickly that choice cascades into disrupted schedules across multiple carriers and airports.
Airports in border regions carry an added layer of uncertainty because a sighting can originate from a purely local event, such as a wedding or sporting tournament using recreational drones, or from cross-border smuggling activity, and investigators often cannot distinguish between the two quickly. That ambiguity is exactly why Amritsar's response combines a geofenced red zone with mandatory advance notification for organisers, shifting part of the burden onto local communities rather than relying only on post-incident inquiry.
What determines whether this incident stays isolated or recurs is whether the FIR and investigative teams identify a source for the September 6 objects, and whether the new red-zone and yellow-alert restrictions actually reduce unauthorized drone launches near the airport in the weeks ahead.
