Amritsar: An Air India flight operating from New Delhi to Amritsar briefly strayed into Pakistani airspace after experiencing a critical technical malfunction mid-flight. Following an immediate navigational warning issued by Pakistani air traffic control authorities, the flight crew executed an emergency U-turn to re-enter Indian sovereign airspace, avoiding a major cross-border diplomatic escalation.
The scheduled Air India flight, operated by an Airbus A321 aircraft, departed from Delhi International Airport at approximately 9:18 PM on Monday night. While en route to its destination in Punjab, an unexpected technical glitch disrupted the aircraft’s onboard navigation systems, causing it to drift off its designated flight path and cross the international border. Air traffic controllers managed to coordinate with the cockpit crew to restore positional awareness, successfully steering the passenger aircraft back toward safety.
The operational disruption caused further complications as the aircraft was denied permission to land upon arrival at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in Amritsar because its designated landing window had expired during the airspace deviation. Consequently, the flight crew was forced to return to Delhi, where the aircraft performed a safe precautionary landing. Following a comprehensive technical inspection and after securing fresh regulatory clearances nearly two hours later, the flight took off once again for Amritsar, eventually touching down safely at 2:20 AM. The routing error and subsequent grounding resulted in a stressful four-hour delay for the passengers on board, who were originally scheduled to reach their destination by 10:30 PM, prompting aviation watchdogs to initiate a formal investigation into the system failure.
