New Delhi: India has suspended operations by civilian flights at 18 airports in the northern and western parts of the country after Operation Sindoor. These airports are now being exclusively used by Indian Air Force (IAF) assets, officials have said.
The suspension of operations is likely to remain in place for the next 72 hours. Over 200 flights have already been cancelled, 160 of them by Indigo alone.
Early on Wednesday, Indian Armed Forces launched high-precision missile strikes on nine terror establishments in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). This was in response to the terror strike in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22 that left 26 persons, mostly tourists from across the country, dead and several others injured.
Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said on Wednesday that this was the deadliest terror attack on civilians in India after the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks of 2008.
The airports that have been shut down for civilian operations include Srinagar, Jammu, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Amritsar, Bhuj, Rajkot, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Delhi, Jamnagar and Kandla. Many of these airports are shared by the IAF and civilian airlines.
“The airports have been closed down to civilian traffic due to operational reasons. The IAF will require all the space it can get in the next few days. Secondly, there is a possibility of Pakistan retaliating. These airports are at risk,” an official explained.
Nearly all major airlines have issued travel advisories for passengers. Foreign airlines that were scheduled to overfly Pakistan after stopovers at these airports have also been diverted due to their closure.
In a statement on X, Indigo has posted that passengers holding valid tickets for the said period will be offered a one-time waiver on rescheduling charges or a full refund for cancellations.
