India: Three flights in Imphal airport sat on the tarmac for over three hours and two incoming flights took a diversion towards Kolkata and Guwahati after the air traffic controllers reported an unidentified flying object near the runaway.
The airport authorities immediately closed the “controlled airspace” in Manipur’s capital Imphal and stopped all flight operations. Some 1,000 passengers were affected by the airspace closure, sources said.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) handed over the airspace control to the Indian Air Force (IAF) before the IAF gave the all-clear to restore the airspace for commercial flight operations, people with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV, requesting anonymity.
The air traffic control (ATC) and people on the ground saw the drones around 2 pm, after which the three flights – two Air India, and an IndiGo flight – were told not to take off, sources said. Around the same time, two incoming flights were diverted, they said.
The incident was seen as disturbing amid the tension in Manipur following months of ethnic violence between the hill-majority Kuki tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis. Several groups had used drones during the violence. In neighbouring Myanmar, the junta forces have been launching airstrikes against Chin State rebels along the border with India.
