An Air India pilot and air traffic controller have been suspended by Indian regulators over an incident that happened near Amritsar, while the city’s airport shut down for a runway inspection following a bird strike. The issue? Well, a plane briefly entered Pakistani airspace, and both parties failed to report it. However, there’s one part of the story that I can’t make sense of.
In this post:
Air India plane “marginally infringed” on Pakistani airspace
The Hindustan Times reports on how India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended an Air India pilot and an air traffic controller over an incident that happened late at night on Monday, June 22, 2026.
Specifically, Air India flight AI479 was scheduled to operate the short 257-mile flight from Delhi (DEL) to Amritsar (ATQ), using an Airbus A321 with the registration code VT-PPT. The plane took off at 9:18PM local time, and was supposed to land under an hour later.
However, as the plane approached Amritsar, it was put into a holding pattern, as the runway needed to be inspected due to a bird strike involving a previous aircraft. At around 10:08PM, while the plane was getting radar vectors, it briefly entered Pakistani airspace, which was reportedly coordinated with Pakistani air traffic controllers.
The Indian air traffic controller had reportedly asked the Air India flight to continue toward the boundary, and then the plane continued and crossed into Pakistani airspace, entering by around three miles. As the airline described it in a statement, the plane “marginally infringed” on Pakistan’s airspace, and an internal investigation is being performed.
This all happened outside the hours during which surveillance services are available in Amritsar. The plane reentered Indian airspace by 10:20PM. At that point the plane returned all the way to Delhi, as it was running low on fuel. It landed in Delhi at 11:27PM, 2hr9min after it first departed.
The biggest issue here was the lack of incident reporting
Given the tension between Pakistan and India, Pakistani airspace has been closed to airlines from India for over a year now. As mentioned above, the Air India plane entering Pakistani airspace was reportedly done in coordination with air traffic control in Lahore, so it’s not like this happened without permission.
The biggest issue here isn’t that the plane entered Pakistani airspace, but instead, that both the pilot and the air traffic controller didn’t file a report with regulators after the fact, regarding what happened.
On some level, that seems fair enough. If airspace is closed to airlines from a certain country, it seems reasonable that you’d expect a report to be filed. Then again, I don’t fully have enough context to know how much of a faux pas this was.
Clearly this was all done with Pakistan’s permission, so what exactly was the emergency that necessitated entering Pakistani airspace? Was there no space to hold on the other side of the border, or is there a disconnect between the alleged airspace closure, and how things really work?
Bottom line
An Air India pilot and an air traffic controller are in trouble, after an Airbus A321 entered Pakistani airspace while holding near Amritsar’s airport. Pakistan’s airspace is closed to airlines of India, though the plane entered the airspace with the permission of Pakistani air traffic controllers.
The main issue here seems to be that the pilot and air traffic controller didn’t file a report about what happened, rather than the “marginal” airspace infringement as such… though that may have also resulted in some serious punishment?
What do you make of this Air India Pakistani airspace situation?
I swear to god, whenever an Air India plane flies over my house, I can smell it from my basement.
Tell everyone without telling that your genetic lineage can be traced back to my mayo jar.
@Dave s - why are you such an awful person? Just curious.
Nothing new here.
MIGA policy by Modi.
Clowns are not exclusive.
Although India is famous for its bureaucracy, I reckon this is more about the "public-facing" side of things, i.e. reassuring the Indian public that they aren't at risk of going to the other side of the scary line and/or inadvertently starting World War III.
It was night and probably he couldn't see the ground .