Operation Sindoor: Resumption of flights at impacted airports underway; Srinagar, Jammu, Hindon, Bathinda among airports that had flights Tuesday
With the reopening of 32 Operation Sindoor-affected airports in northern and western India from Monday, a few flights to and from some of these airports operated on Tuesday, marking what appears to be the beginning of resumption of regular commercial flight operations in the affected areas.
While IndiGo and Air India had on Monday announced operations from some of the affected airports from Tuesday, most of those flights were cancelled overnight after precautionary blackouts were enforced in parts of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir on Monday night following suspected drone activity.
Notwithstanding those cancellations, airports like Srinagar, Jammu, Bathinda, Adampur, Shimla, and Hindon did see some commercial flight operations from Air India Express, Air India, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and Star Air, according to flight tracking data and information from airline sources.
For instance, Air India Express operated flights on Hindon–Bengaluru, Jammu–Delhi, Jammu–Srinagar, and Srinagar–Delhi routes on Tuesday, in line with the resumption plan it announced on Monday. Its parent Air India also restarted operations between Srinagar and Delhi.
Air India had initially announced that it would operate flights to and from Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh, and Rajkot from Tuesday, but later cancelled most of these flights, with the exception of the Srinagar flights. SpiceJet also operated flights between Srinagar and Delhi on Tuesday. Other examples include regional airline Alliance Air operating flights on the Delhi-Shimla and Delhi-Bathinda routes, and Star Air operating on the Adampur (Jalandhar)-Hindon route.
According to industry sources, scheduled civil flight operations at the affected airports are expected to be fully restored over the next few days in a phased manner, provided India-Pakistan tensions do not spiral again into a military conflict. Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu suggested airlines to resume their normal schedules across the affected airports from Thursday. All airlines 'responded positively' to the suggestion, Naidu said in a post on social media platform X.
In addition to the affected routes that it re-operationalised on Tuesday, Air India Express plans to restart flights on the Hindon–Mumbai route from Wednesday, followed by the reinstatement of other suspended flights, including international services from Amritsar, from Thursday. SpiceJet said it will resume its special Haj flights from Srinagar from Wednesday. Air India and IndiGo are also expected to resume operations at various affected airports from Wednesday.
Following the ceasefire understanding between India and Pakistan, New Delhi on Monday cancelled the temporary closure of 32 airports in parts of northern and western India, making them available for regular civil flight operations. Amid the major escalation in tensions with Pakistan last week, these airports—close to the India-Pakistan border or housed at key Indian Air Force bases—were shut for civil aircraft operations till 5:29 am on May 15 (Thursday). The closure of these airports was leading to cancellation of over 300 flights a day, industry sources indicated. Over 160 flights a day of the country's largest airline IndiGo alone were cancelled due to these airport closures.
The affected airports included Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Uttarlai, Rajkot, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Dharamshala, Bathinda, Patiala, Pathankot, Adampur, Shimla, Kishangarh, Hindon, Porbandar, Mundra, and Kandla, among others. Barring a few, majority of these airports are located at defence airfields, with some see only a handful of commercial flights a day. Amid the military conflict between India and Pakistan, the 32 airports were closed in order to keep civilian air traffic away from potential harm.
Air India and IndiGo on Monday announced a progressive resumption of their flights at some of these airports, but later cancelled most of them. The airlines said that the flight cancellations were in view of 'the latest developments' and keeping passenger safety in mind, without elaborating further. Notably, the cancellations were announced following unexpected precautionary blackouts in parts of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir on Monday night. In fact, Indigo had announced the resumption of Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jammu and Delhi-Amritsar flights from Monday evening itself. While the Delhi-Jammu and Delhi-Chandigarh flights operated without a hiccup, the airline's Delhi-Amritsar flight turned back to the Capital midway after a precautionary blackout was enforced in Amritsar and a few other areas of Punjab.
Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Gujarat Congress leader arrested for posts on Operation Sindoor
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Congress general secretary Rajesh Soni was arrested on Friday for posting content on social media that was deemed misleading and damaging the morale of India's armed forces involved in Operation Sindoor, police said. The operation, launched last month by the Indian military to target terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), has been a focal point of national sensitivity, prompting authorities to closely monitor online activities. According to Superintendent of Police (CID-Cyber Crime) Bharatsinh Tank, an FIR was registered against Soni on Thursday over certain posts on Facebook. Along with the May 22 post on Operation Sindoor, police also cited an older post from April 3 last year in the FIR, which HT has seen. The posts undermine the morale of defence personnel and endanger India's sovereignty through misleading information, according to police. Based on a complaint filed by Ajay Swami, 35, a sub-inspector of the cyber crime cell of the Criminal Investigation Department, CID Crime, Gujarat, Soni was charged under sections 152 (acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India) and 353(1)(a) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the SP said. Operation Sindoor, launched on the night of May 6-7, 2025, was a high-precision military offensive targeting nine terror camps in Pakistan and PoK in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The operation resulted in the deaths of over 100 terrorists, with India repelling subsequent Pakistani counter-attacks. The government has since been monitoring social media for content deemed anti-national or disruptive, leading to multiple arrests across Gujarat. As many as 17 individuals, including Soni, have so far been detained in Gujarat for objectionable posts related to the operation. Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil said that Soni was detained by police as if they were catching a terrorist. Criticising the action. Gohil said his party colleague only tried to highlight that soldiers need to get their due credit instead of government spending taxpayers money on publicity.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Confident in PM's wisdom on delimitation: Andhra Pradesh CM Naidu
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said he is confident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the concern of the southern States that any delimitation based only on population would reduce their representation in Parliament. Mr. Naidu's Telugu Desam Party is a key constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP at the Centre. 'I am 100% confident in the Prime Minister's wisdom. He will work with everybody and then take forward [the delimitation exercise],' he said. Also read | Gains, losses, and politics in Andhra Pradesh Mr. Naidu spoke to The Hindu at his private residence in the city on a wide range of issues as he completes the first year of his third term as Chief Minister that started on June 12, 2024. Mr. Naidu had played a critical role in 2001, in the consensus Constitutional amendment to delay the inter-State redistribution of parliamentary representation for 25 years, until 2026. The NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power then and Mr. Naidu was a key partner then too. 'That time also... because of the sentiment [of the Southern States] it was done… That time, we thought, in south India, we were able to control population… that is good. Now north India will control population. Today, we have realised population is an asset, not liability. So north India has more population. They have done a good job…' Mr. Naidu said, explaining the 2001 decision and the present situation. '…we have to keep our sentiment intact. [Regarding] delimitation, appropriate policy will come. They will work it out. That was our concept at that time also [in 2001]. This time also it will happen,' he said. Asked whether the present NDA government was as sensitive as the Vajpayee government in this regard, Mr. Naidu said: '...100%. They will do that. The Prime Minister is very clear that he wants to keep national interest… as most important.…' Mr. Naidu said he had discussed the demographic changes 'broadly' in meetings at NITI Aayog, but did not have an opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister on the issue. 'No, not yet. The time has not yet come [to talk to Mr. Modi]. At an appropriate time [I will talk],' he said, in response to a question. As per the Constitutional amendment in 2001, the next inter-State delimitation shall take place after the first Census after 2026. With the Centre announcing that a fresh Census will conclude by early 2027, southern States have reiterated their demand for 'fair delimitation.' Asked what he thought of the demand by his counterparts in the other four southern States, Mr. Naidu said: '…Issue has not yet come. The demand is being made too early…At the appropriate time [it should be discussed]. When they [the Centre] come with a policy, and if there is any problem for south India, we can talk. Without having anything, if you raise it, it is only political slogan.' Mr. Naidu repeated his call for faster population growth where it has slowed down. 'South India has to go for demographic management. Population is reducing here, older population is increasing... Migrations will happen. Now, we have to promote population growth in a big way… Very difficult task...' he said. Asked whether he was considering any incentive for having more children, the Chief Minister said such experiments have not been successful in any part of the world. 'South India had advanced thinking, for population management and also economic progress. People are not having children now. So we need [to go in] the reverse way. We have to think here about population management. You have to do,' he said.
India.com
an hour ago
- India.com
After BrahMos, India's new homemade weapon will give sleepless nights to Pakistan and a warning to China, weapon is..., developed by...
New Delhi: During Operation Sindoor, the Indian Armed Forces decimated most of Pakistan's military infrastructure. One of the crucial weapons was the BrahMos missile. Now, India is preparing to launch another highly potent weapon which is an indigenous 155mm artillery shell developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This homemade 155mm artillery shell will not only add more muscle to the might of the Indian Army but also serve as a warning to China as it could strengthen India's battlefield edge from the mountains of Ladakh to the Line of Control (LoC). Four variants of this next-gen artillery ammunition have been successfully developed and tested by the DRDO over the past two years. This is a massive step forward in India's journey toward self-reliance in defense manufacturing. For a long time, India had largely relied on Russia and Israel for artillery shells, but with its own advanced 155mm ammunition nearly ready, that dependency may soon end. Nearly two feet long, these shells weigh approximately 45 kg each and their range is about 32 km. The user trials are scheduled for November this year. Upon clearance, mass production will begin for deployment across India's armed forces. Apart from enhancing India's military infrastructure, this project is also a showcase of public-private partnership in defense. Under DRDO's Development-cum-Production Partner (DCPP) model, two companies, Jai Ammunition Ltd (a Reliance Infrastructure subsidiary) and Yantra India Ltd, a state-owned firm, have been shortlisted to co-develop and mass-produce the shells. Both the companies have worked closely with DRDO over the past two years, and will now produce prototypes for the Indian Army's evaluation. If approved, it could generate large-scale orders and help reduce India's massive import bill on defense supplies. Over the next decade, India's artillery ammunition market is projected to be worth over Rs 10,000 crore. Also, given their superior technology, the shells will be considered for exports. India's reputation as the developer and manufacturer of world-class weapons at reasonable price could make India a sought-after player in the global arms market.
