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Security personnel stand guard next to the closed Kangra Airport near Dharamshala
| Photo Credit:
MOORTHY RV
India’s precision strikes against terrorist sites in Pakistan under “Operation Sindoor” caused major disruptions in civil aviation operations in the country’s north-western region on Wednesday. The operations are expected to remain constrained as a ‘Notice to Airmen’ (NOTAM) is applicable until May 10.
Industry estimates showed that over 400 flights were cancelled as a precautionary measure on Wednesday, with the government shutting down more than 20 airports across north-west India, including Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Amritsar, and Shimla.
In Gujarat, four airports close to the Indo-Pakistan border – Bhuj, Kandla, Jamnagar, and Rajkot — have been temporarily shut down for civilian aircraft operations.
Air India cancelled all flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Chandigarh, and Rajkot until May 10, while IndiGo cancelled over 165 flights from multiple airports.
Besides, foreign airlines were impacted with US carriers American and United cancelling their Tuesday departures to Delhi.
Other airlines, such as Finnair and KLM, have had to divert or take longer routes, resulting in increased flight times.
“Given the current situation between India and Pakistan being tense, we now roll into a hostile ‘trigger-happy’ airspace environment; all aircraft, commercial, civil, private, and cargo helicopters planning flights in the vicinity of the FIR boundary are cautioned to restrict flights, as the chances of being mistaken as enemy aircraft by air defense are extremely high,” Civil Aviation expert Mark D. Martin of Martin Consulting told businessline.
“In the past, we have seen two such major events, the shooting down of Azerbaijan Airlines ERJ 175 and that of MH17 in 2015 over Ukraine.”
(With inputs from Aneesh Phadnis from Mumbai, Avinash Nair from Ahmedabad)
Published on May 7, 2025
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