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What is GPS spoofing — and how did it throw Delhi Airport flights off track this month

While flight operations in battle zones are more likely to face spoofing, the incident in Delhi has emerged as a major concern.

3 min readNov 25, 2025 11:24 AM IST

New Delhi: People wait outside the arrivals' exit at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, in New Delhi, in New Delhi, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (PTI Photo)

Earlier this month, hundreds of flights were affected at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi due to technical glitches that were linked to GPS spoofing, according to the officials.

IGIA, the country’s busiest airport, handles more than 1,500 flight movements daily.

While such incidents have increased in the past couple of years, flight operations in battle zones are more likely to face spoofing. Thus, flights operating in Delhi facing spoofing emerged as a major concern.

What is GPS spoofing?

Spoofing is a type of GPS interference. It involves a device transmitting signals on the same frequencies used by GPS satellites, blocking the receivers from acquiring or maintaining the right satellite signals.

Unlike jamming, another type of GPS interference which disrupts signals entirely, spoofing deceives the receiver into trusting false data.

In jamming, the aircraft loses its positioning, while in spoofing, pilots get wrong signals about their locations. Both jamming as well as spoofing can cause significant disruptions in aircraft navigation systems.

What happened at Delhi airport?

The IGIA saw significant disruptions due to a number of reasons on November 7 with the snag hitting its Air Traffic Control (ATC) system.

The problem compounded because of ongoing runway upgrades.

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With the main 10/28 runway at the airport closed for an upgrade, its instrument landing system (ILS) has been switched off. In the absence of ILS, aircraft rely on GPS-based Required Navigation Performance (RNP guidance to land, but the recent GPS spoofing around Delhi has been disrupting these signals.

When the GPS data becomes unreliable, pilots cannot use RNP, leaving them with no precise navigation aid to line up with the runway. As a result, flights approaching from that direction face difficulties in landing, causing delays, congestion and diversions.

How many incidents of spoofing has India witnessed?

Spoofing is generally seen in war zones where competing sides attempt to confuse each others’ aircraft and ships. Baltic countries have often accused Russia of orchestrating spoofing attacks on flights operating in the region, and such attacks have risen in recent years, particularly after the Ukraine war began in 2022.

Between November 2023 and February 2025, around 465 incidents of GPS interference were reported in India’s border regions, mostly in Amritsar and Jammu regions, Murlidhar Mohol, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation, informed Lok Sabha earlier this year.

What is the government doing to tackle this issue?

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued an advisory back in 2023 on interference with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in airspace, highlighting the threats GNSS jamming and spoofing pose for aircraft operations.

A few days ago, in light of the incidents of spoofing reported in and around IGIA, DGCA again issued updated reporting protocols for pilots, mandating them to report spoofing incidents within 10 minutes of encountering such interference.

“Any pilot, ATC controller, or technical unit detecting abnormal GPS behaviour (e.g., position anomalies, navigation errors, loss of GNSS signal integrity, or spoofed location data) shall initiate real-time reporting (within 10 minutes of occurrence),” DGCA said.

Devansh Mittal

Devansh Mittal is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in the New Delhi City bureau. He reports on urban policy, civic governance, and infrastructure in the National Capital Region, with a growing focus on housing, land policy, transport, and the disruption economy and its social implications. Professional Background Education: He studied Political Science at Ashoka University. Core Beats: His reporting focuses on policy and governance in the National Capital Region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. He covers housing and land policy, municipal governance, urban transport, and the interface between infrastructure, regulation, and everyday life in the city. Recent Notable Work His recent reporting includes in-depth examinations of urban policy and its on-ground consequences: An investigation into subvention-linked home loans that documented how homebuyers were drawn into under-construction projects through a “builder–bank” nexus, often leaving them financially exposed when delivery stalled. A detailed report on why Delhi’s land-pooling policy has remained stalled since 2007, tracing how fragmented land ownership, policy design flaws, and mistrust among stakeholders have kept one of the capital’s flagship urban reforms in limbo. A reported piece examining the collapse of an electric mobility startup and what it meant for women drivers dependent on the platform for livelihoods. Reporting Approach Devansh’s work combines on-ground reporting with analysis of government data, court records, and academic research. He regularly reports from neighbourhoods, government offices, and courtrooms to explain how decisions on housing, transport, and the disruption economy shape everyday life in the city. Contact X (Twitter): @devanshmittal_ Email: devansh.mittal@expressindia.com ... Read More

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