New Delhi: A UAE-Singapore Emirates flight was briefly not allowed to enter the Indian airspace last Sunday because the Boeing 777’s flight plan was filed as a non-scheduled flight, for which there was no approval with the Indian authorities. Only after the airline and the pilots clarified that it was actually a scheduled flight that it was allowed to enter and overfly India.“When EK-9314 was about to enter the Indian airspace, alert air traffic controllers in Mumbai realised the flight did not have permission to do so. DGCA has issued a ‘YA number’ for each approved non-scheduled flight flying to, from and over India. This flight’s YA number was nowhere to be found,” said a source. The aircraft turned around and hovered for a while. “Emirates later confirmed that the flight was a scheduled one. The pilot also confirmed this. The required clearance was issued and the flight allowed to continue to its destination,” said the source. TOI reached out to Emirates for a comment. —Saurabh Sinha
