NEW DELHI: Amid fear of Pakistan attack, a total of 27 airports across northern, western, and central India have shuts down for commercial operations until Saturday, May 10.
The airport closures have led to massive disruption in air traffic, with Indian carriers cancelling 430 flights on Thursday—about 3% of the country’s total scheduled flights. Airlines in Pakistan cancelled over 147 flights, which amounted to 17% of their daily schedules.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. “Airspace over Pakistan and the western shoulder of India between Kashmir and Gujarat was free of civilian air traffic as airlines shunned the sensitive zone,” it noted, sharing live flight path data and cancellation figures. 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. Airlines across the board have been rerouting or cancelling flights to avoid the sensitive zone. Around 250 flights had already been cancelled. Air India said two of its international flights bound for Amritsar had to be diverted to Delhi.
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