Amritsar airport shuts 90 minutes after drones over the field

Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport suspended operations for about 90 minutes on Sunday night after drones were reported over the airfield. Airport Director Anirudh Kumar Sharma said Air Traffic Control received the report from the Indian Air Force at about 9.45 p.m. Several arrivals were already holding overhead. A Joint Action Committee met in the tower, closed the field at 9.50 p.m., and reopened it at 11.15 p.m. after the objects were no longer seen.

Seven flights diverted. Two went to Chandigarh: IndiGo 6E-5028 from Mumbai and 6E-2045 from Delhi. Five went to Delhi, including Malaysia Airlines MH-118 from Kuala Lumpur, IndiGo 6E-1428 from Sharjah, Air India Express IX-120 from Sharjah, and Air India AI-479 and AI-855 from Delhi. Sharma said five of the seven later returned. One Air India service that had gone back to Delhi was cancelled. The Malaysia Airlines flight was expected on Monday.

Where the objects were seen

Local reporting said the objects appeared to come from the direction of Rudala village and stayed in the air near the runway for several minutes. Sharma described them as drones spotted across the airfield. Punjab Police, CISF and other agencies were called. No recovery of a drone was announced on Monday morning. No group claimed the flight.

Amritsar sits close to the Pakistan border. Drone sightings in Punjab have been a running security file for years, usually tied to arms and narcotics drops rather than an airport approach path. An object over an active runway is a different problem. A jet on short final cannot share that air with a small rotorcraft. That is why the SOP shuts the field first and asks questions after the holdings are gone.

What the 90 minutes show

The response was by the book. IAF report, joint committee, closure, diversions, reopen when the sky is empty. The hole in the account is the object itself. Without a recovered airframe, a radar track or a camera frame released to the public, Monday's story is a sighting and a timetable. That is enough to disrupt seven flights. It is not enough to say who flew, from where, or why.

Passengers on MH-118 and the two Sharjah services had the longest night. International crews diverting into Delhi at short notice then have to refile, refuel and wait for a slot back to Amritsar. One cancellation and one next-day arrival is a cheap outcome compared with a strike on an engine or a go-around into a second object.

Police have the investigation. Until they produce a drone, a pilot or a closed finding that the sighting was something else, the operational fact remains the one Sharma gave: the field went dark at 9.50 p.m. and opened at 11.15 p.m. because something that looked like a drone was over the runway.