Turkish Airlines plane sparks security alert on entering Indian airspace

Jodhpur: The Indian Air Force on Sunday scrambled fighter planes from air base here after two commercial passenger aircraft sought to enter Indian territory from Pakistan side using similar identification codes, sparking a security alert.

Sources said the Pakistani Karachi air traffic control (ATC) did not transmit the revised code of the Turkish aircraft to the Delhi ATC resulting in the incident.

Two MiG-21 fighter aircraft were sent from Jodhpur air base to investigate a Turkish Airlines plane over Jaisalmer this morning when it repeated an identification code given by a commercial passenger plane that had entered Indian airspace before it.

However, the Delhi-bound plane was allowed to proceed after its credentials were verified, officials said.

These codes are issued to establish identity of am aircraft before they enter the territory of a country during international flights.