Closure of 24 airports extended till May 15 amid border conflict

The Union government has extended the temporary closure of 24 airports in northern and western parts of the country for civil aircraft operations by four days till May 15, according to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued on Friday, with the development coming amid major escalation in tension with Pakistan over the past few days.

- Neha LM Tripathi

NEW DELHI:

The notice issued by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the airports would remain closed until 5.29 am on May 15. Earlier, these 24 airports, which are either located close to Pakistan borders or are situated near key defence bases, were closed for civilian flights till May 10.

The affected airports, according to the NOTAM, are Srinagar and Jammu in Jammu & Kashmir; Leh in Ladakh; Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Halwara and Pathankot in Punjab; Bhuntar, Shimla and Kangra in Himachal Pradesh; Chandigarh in the UT; Mundra, Jamnagar, Hirasar, Porbandar, Keshod, Kandla and Bhuj in Gujarat; Kishengarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Earlier, these airports across different states and UTs were shut following Indian armed forces' precision strikes at nine terrorist targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Operation Sindoor in the early hours on May 7. The operation was in retaliation to the April 22 attack by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Pahalgam, killing 26 civilians.