By Admin 
Last Monday (22 June 2026) night, due to a technical fault in Air India flight AI-479 going from Delhi to Amritsar, the plane deviated from its planned path and went straight into Pakistan’s airspace. It is said that the pilot came to know about this only after receiving a warning from Pakistan Air Traffic Authority, after which the plane took a U-turn and turned back towards Indian airspace. This incident is not like a normal route deviation because the airspace in which the plane went is completely closed for Indian aircraft at present.
PAK has banned its airspace for Indian aircraft
Pakistan Airports Authority has closed its airspace for all aircraft with Indian registration, whether commercial or military, from April 2025. This ban has been extended every month through NOTAM. This ban was in force on the night the AI-479 went astray and was extended till the morning of June 24. After this, with a new NOTAM issued on June 16, it has been further extended till July 24. This is the reason that as soon as the plane entered Lahore Flight Information Region of Pakistan, the Air Traffic Authority there immediately issued a warning.
Indian plane entered Pakistan border
Relations between India and Pakistan are already tense after the Pahalgam attack. In such a situation, the departure of an Indian aircraft in closed airspace makes the matter serious. However, Amritsar Airport sources say that the plane did not go more than one and a half miles inside the Pakistan border. The plane took off from Delhi at 9:18 pm on Monday night, which was just 3 minutes late from the scheduled time. Landing in Amritsar was to take place at 10.30 pm, but due to a technical glitch midway, the navigation of the plane got disturbed and it crossed the border.
The plane kept circling around Amritsar
The trouble did not end even after returning to Indian airspace. By then the traffic at Amritsar airport had increased due to which the plane was not allowed to land. The plane kept circling around Amritsar for some time, then on the instructions of the control room it was sent back to Delhi where it landed safely. After waiting for about two hours, the plane was again allowed to fly to Amritsar and finally it landed safely at Amritsar airport at around 2.20 am on the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday. In this entire process, passengers had to face a delay of about four hours.
Airport officials say that due to runway availability and traffic, it is a normal procedure to make the aircraft wait in the air, but in this case the real reason is said to be technical fault and deviation from the path. At present, the investigation of the matter is going on and it is not clear what was the real reason for the disturbance in the navigation system.
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