India has announced temporary closure of 32 airports across northern and western India for civil aircraft operations amid rising tensions with Pakistan over the past three days. The operations will remain suspended till 5:29 am India time on May 15, according to a series of Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) issued on Friday by India’s aviation authorities.
Following India’s precision strikes at nine locations in Pakistan as part of ‘Operation Sindoor’ in the wee hours on Wednesday, New had announced closure of around 25 airports — close to the India-Pakistan border or housed at key Indian Air Force bases — initially till Saturday 5:29 am in order to keep civilian air traffic away from potential harm.
But with tensions escalating and Pakistan resorting to large-scale drone and missile attacks at Indian military installations in northern and western India, and India’s proportionate military response to Pakistan, the temporary closure of airports has been extended at least till May 15 morning, and a few more airports have been added to the list.
Barring a few, the majority of these airports are located at defence airfields, with some seeing only a handful of commercial flights each day. Flight tracking data also showed limited civilian aircraft activity north of Delhi and in much of Rajasthan and Gujarat, where some sensitive airports close to the India-Pakistan border and key Indian Air Force stations are located. The affected airports include Srinagar, , Leh, Amritsar, , Ambala, , Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Uttarlai, Rajkot, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Dharamshala, Bathinda, Patiala, Pathankot, , Kishangarh, Hindon, Porbandar, Mundra, and Kandla, among others.
“All civil flight activities at these airports will remain suspended during this period. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also extended the temporary closure of 25 segments of Air Traffic Service (ATS) routes within the Delhi and Flight Information Regions (FIRs) due to operational reasons,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said in a release late Friday.
➡️ Temporary Suspension of Civil Flight Operations at Select Airports and Air Routes
➡️ The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and relevant aviation authorities have issued a series of Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) announcing the temporary closure of 32 airports across northern and…
— PIB India (@PIB_India)
Carriers and other flight operators have been advised by aviation authorities to plan alternative routings in line with current air traffic advisories. The temporary closure is being managed in coordination with relevant ATC units to ensure safety and minimise disruption, MoCA added.
The closure of airports in northern and western India due to the conflict with Pakistan is leading to cancellation of over 400 flights a day, industry sources indicated. The country’s largest airline, IndiGo, alone is reporting 165 flight cancellations daily due to airport closures. Following Friday’s decision to keep civil aircraft operations suspended, airlines issued advisories to passengers regarding flight cancellations.
“In accordance with the latest directives from the relevant authorities, please be advised that all flights to and from the following destinations will remain cancelled until 0529 hours on 15th May 2025 due to temporary airport closures: Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Bikaner, Rajkot, Jodhpur, and Kishangarh. These precautionary measures have been instituted with your safety and security as our highest priority,” IndiGo said in a travel advisory on Friday evening.
In its advisory to passengers, group airline Air India said: “Following a notification from aviation authorities on continued closure of multiple airports in India, Air India flights to and from the following stations – Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bhuj, Jamnagar and Rajkot – are being cancelled till 0529 hrs IST on 15 May, pending further updates”.
Apart from suspending civil aircraft operations at these airports, security at all the operational Indian airports has been . Aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Thursday ordered secondary pre-boarding checks for all passengers and all flights, banning entry of visitors at airport terminals, and deployment of required number of air marshals in line with the increased threat perception, among several other security and surveillance measures, all of which shall be in place at least till May 18.
