Indo-Pak row hit flight ops, West Asia travel

The four-day India-Pakistan conflict impacted India's airline industry as well as led to calls for a boycott of travel to Azerbaijan and Turkey.

- Nandita Venkatesan & Manjul Paul

Data for May shows the extent of the impact in these two areas.

Following the Pahalgam attack on 22 April, India launched precision strikes—Operation Sindoor—on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir early on 7 May. Pakistan then struck India in the border regions, which led to drone strikes between the two countries for four days until an understanding of ceasefire was achieved.

Impact on airlines As India's border regions came under heavy attack from Pakistan, as many as 32 airports in the northern and western states were shut down. On day one of the conflict, more than 50 flights were cancelled.

The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for May shows the extent of disruptions, from increased airline cancellations to a sharp decline in domestic passenger traffic growth. Despite lasting only a few days, the conflict seemingly left a sizeable—though temporary—impact on the country's airline industry.