Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) were halted temporarily on Sunday evening for over 55 minutes after a drone was spotted over one of the runways by the pilot of AirAsia airline at 7.30 pm while landing.
Security officials at the airport said that an emergency call was received by the Air Traffic Control that a suspicious object was noticed over the runway near the cargo area of Terminal-3. All the three runways were closed for over 55 minutes as a security precaution and a team of the Central Industrial Security Force, the Delhi Police and the aviation security were pressed into service to investigate, while many flights were diverted to Jaipur.
The airport is the busiest in the country and handles around 1,200 flight movements daily. During peak time, the airport handles up to 70 flights per hour.
Flight operations were resumed after the initial security drill and security clearance by the Delhi Police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) IGIA Sanjay Bhatia confirmed that the flight operations were resumed after the initial investigations.
It may be noted that, a suspicious object was recovered from the cargo hold area of the airport on August 2. Security agencies at the IGIA had then carried out a detailed security audit of the cargo hold area and it was later declared safe.