Govt confirms spoofing across major airports, says no impact on flights

NEw new delhi: civic air power government minister ram down Mohan Naidu on Monday said that spoofing signals were received from Delhi, Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai airports (last month) but there were no effects on movements of flights. He was responding to a query by member of Parliament (MP) Niranjan Reddy amid concerns following the GPS spoofing episode at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in November.GPS spoofing involves sending fake satellite signals to trick a navigation system into showing the wrong position, speed or time. Unlike jamming, which floods the spectrum on which GPS satellites function, spoofing feeds aircraft false but convincing navigation data, which can cause errors in route or altitude and pose serious safety risks.Confirming the incident, Naidu, in a written response to MP Niranjan Reddy, said that some flights reported GPS spoofing in the vicinity of IGIA (Indira Gandhi International Airport), New Delhi while using GPS based landing procedures, while approaching Runway 10. “Contingency procedures were used for GPS spoofed flights approaching RWY 10. There were no effects on movements of flights, on other runway ends having conventional navigational aids being operational,” he said.“GNSS Interference Reports are being received from Kolkata, Amritsar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai airports,” he added.The minister further said that while the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued advisory circular in 2023 for addressing GNSS Interference in Airspace, it has also issued Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) on November 10, 2025, after the spoofing episode in Delhi, for Real-Time Reporting of GPS Spoofing/GNSS Interference Events around IGI Airport.“Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also requested Wireless Monitoring Organization (WMO) to possibly identify the source of interference/ spoofing,” he said.“During the high-level meeting, WMO was directed to mobilise more resources to identify the source of spoofing based on approximate spoofing location details shared by DGCA and AAI. After being mandated by DGCA to report instances of GPS Jamming/Spoofing since November 2023, regular reports are being received from other major airports in the country,” the minister added.Naidu said that Minimum Operating Network (MON) consisting of Conventional (Ground based) Navigation and Surveillance Infrastructure are retained in accordance with global best practices.“India is participating in global platforms to keep itself abreast of the latest methodology & technology for timely implementation of the same,” the minister said.On the global Cyber Security threats to the aviation sector, Naidu said, “To enhance cyber security against global threats, AAI is implementing advanced cyber security solutions for IT Networks and Infrastructure. These actions have been taken in accordance with the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) and Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) guidelines.”“Cyber security is ensured by continuous upgradation. As the nature and type of the threat changes, new protective measures are being taken,” he said.Meanwhile, minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a written reply to Rajya Sabha MP Rajinder Gupta stated that in response to the technical failure at Delhi Airport on November 6-7, 2025, the AAI has been directed to carry out a comprehensive audit of all Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) equipment across the airports to evaluate their condition, operational reliability, and lifecycle management.“..to avert recurrence of such events, AAI has undertaken the replacement of the existing IP-based Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS) with the new Air Traffic Services Message Handling System (AMHS),” Mohol said.Separately, while replying to MP V Sivadasan, Mohol said, “Investigation has been initiated by the central agencies with respect to the reported anomaly in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals at Delhi Airport.”