A total of 27 airports across northern, western, and central India have been closed for commercial operations until 5:29 am on Saturday, May 10.
The airport closures have led to massive disruption in air traffic, with Indian carriers cancelling 430 flights on Thursday, May 8,—about 3% of the country’s total scheduled flights. Airlines in Pakistan cancelled over 147 flights, which amounted to 17% of their daily schedules.
The affected Indian airports include Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Halwara, Pathankot, Bhuntar, Shimla, Gaggal, Dharamsala, Kishangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Mundra, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Kandla, Keshod, Bhuj, Gwalior and Hindon. Airports primarily used for military charters have also been included in the shutdown.
Flightradar24, a global flight tracking platform, indicated that the airspace over Pakistan and the western corridor of India—from Kashmir to Gujarat—was largely free of civilian aircraft on Thursday, May 8.
