NEW DELHI — Airlines in India have suspended flight operations from more than two dozen airports across northern and western regions of the country amid heightened tensions with Pakistan.
In advisories to passengers, key domestic airlines said their flights will remain suspended until Saturday from airports including Amritsar in northern Punjab and Srinagar in India-controlled Kashmir, bordering Pakistan.
India’s Civil Aviation Ministry hasn’t officially commented on the closure of airports after tensions flared up with Pakistan. A spokeswoman for the ministry, Beena Yadav, declined to comment on Thursday.
Indigo, the country’s biggest domestic carrier, on Wednesday canceled 165 flights, while Air India and Air India Express had a similar number of cancellations. Air India even diverted two of its international flights enroute from Amritsar, close to Lahore, to New Delhi, because of the sudden closure of the airport.
India and Pakistan are teetering on the edge of a fresh military crisis after New Delhi launched missile strikes inside Pakistani territory Wednesday, targeting what it called terror training camps to avenge last month’s massacre of 26 Indian tourists in India-controlled Kashmir.
India blames Pakistan for backing the gunmen, an accusation that Islamabad denies.
Soon after the killings, the two countries swiftly moved to close their respective airspace last month, and India has shut some of its airports. The cancellation of flights has resulted in woes for passengers.
Rahul, a 32-year-old Indian businessman who goes by a single name, had a flight from Dubai to Chandigarh on Wednesday, which was canceled after closure of the Indian airport. The airline offered him a rescheduled flight to Delhi and then a bus ride to Chandigarh.
Rahul’s work got delayed back home, but he didn’t complain.
“Its a security situation. I understand,” he said.
