Dubai: Flights were diverted away from Sharjah International Airport on Thursday morning due to suspected drone activity in the area.
Six Air Arabia flights bound for Sharjah were diverted, the diversions happened between 7am and 9am but they departed for Sharjah a short time after they arrived in Ras Al Khaimah.
The operations were back to normal in Sharjah a short time later.
One passenger took to twitter saying that Pilot of her flight announced that drone activity was behind the closure of Sharjah airport airspace
“Pilot said Sharjah airport airspace has just reopened after drone activity. He said 8 flights were diverted to Ras al-Khaimah-don’t know about other Emirates. Dubai airport shutdown briefly in Sept also due to drone activity. Even a small drone is V. dangerous if it hits a plane," she tweeted.
Sharjah Civil Aviation Authority, told Gulf News, "Sharjah control tower was informed of the presence of a drone near Sharjah International Airport on Thursday, November 28, 2019. Department of Sharjah Civil Aviation suspended air operations in accordance with the regulations of the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority. After insuring that the air space is obstacle free, the air traffic was back to normal after one hour."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Air Arabia said, “Due to suspected drone activity, a few Air Arabia flights were diverted from Sharjah International Airport this morning to Ras Al Khaimah International Airport. The operations were resorted to normal shortly afterwards.”
Anyone found operating a drone without a licence in the UAE or any restricted airspace can be hit with a Dh20,000 fine. The devices cannot be flown within 5 kilometres of an airport.
In September Dubai International Airport arrivals were briefly disrupted at also due to suspected drone activity. Flights back then were diverted to Dubai World Central and Sharjah International Airport.
On February 15 Dubai Airport experienced departure delays between 10:13 am and 10:45 also from suspected drone activity.
