Operation Sindoor: 25 airports closed for 2 days — what should passengers do?

In the intervening night of May 6 and 7, Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor to retaliate against the Pahalgam terrorist attack, in which 26 tourists were killed. The calibrated response to hit the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir has led to a situation where certain airports have been closed for civilian flights. So far, airlines have announced the cancellation of flights to 25 airports, which include Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Shimla, Kullu, Dharamshala, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Bhuj, Kishangarh, Gwalior, Kandla, Adampur, Hindon, Bareilly and Jamnagar.

These include airports which are operated by the Indian Air Force and have a civil enclave, or are closer to the border areas or have air routes which could be in areas which are corridors for military aircraft movement. This ensures that if and when there is a need to scramble military assets, civilians and civilian airliners are out of harm and there is full focus on the task at hand. Not having civilian movements also ensures that the active movements are not tracked by human intelligence advertently or inadvertently by passengers flying out of these airports. While there remains a rule to not photograph at defence airports, these are not enforced strictly and it matters a lot in the current times.

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The closure of airfields is currently announced until 2359 hours Universal time on May 9, 2025. This means the airfields will be closed until 0529 hours of May 10, 2025, Indian Standard Time. Data obtained from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article, shows that a little over 500 departures would be impacted from these airports between this morning and when the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) ends. A similar number of arrivals into these airports will also be impacted. The total impact is less than 8 per cent of total domestic flights in India.

Which airlines and airports have the maximum impact?

Chandigarh airport will see the maximum impact with 123 departures, while Srinagar will have an impact of 99 departures and Amritsar will have 90 departures. Passengers of IndiGo will be the most impacted since 267 IndiGo flights are impacted, followed by Air India (102 flights) and Air India Express (74).

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Some of these airports, like Hindon, have alternates in Delhi, while places like Chandigarh are well connected by road. Passengers who are stuck at other places may be understandably worried in these current times and should check with the airline on the next steps.

What should the passengers do?

There would be two kinds of passengers: those who were supposed to fly today or until the morning of May 10, and those who wouldn't be able to reach the intended destination. Second, those who are currently at these places and were supposed to fly out are now stuck because of the closure. Airlines are offering waivers for cancellation charges and a change in ticket without penalty in such cases, and passengers can make the most of this in all cases.

Passengers should ensure that their contact details are updated with the airline to get immediate updates as and when the airline makes any changes. Airlines are also offering changes to the tickets, giving passengers the ability to explore options from the nearest airport which is operational. With passenger count thinning to Srinagar and other areas, which passengers knew could be likely impacted by the ongoing tensions, flights are likely to have space to accommodate passengers. The immediate rush post Pahalgam attack has been taken care of, and the response from the Indian armed forces has come after the passengers who wanted to return immediately were safely back. As of now, there is no advisory from the government to avoid specific areas for travel.

Tail Note

As is the case in any military escalation, things evolve and change at short notice. Passengers should be aware of the risks and uncertainties that come with travel during such times. Military flying is of paramount importance, and changes are possible, which could either extend the closure or, in some cases, even open the airfields earlier than announced.

For a passenger, it is important to monitor social media announcements, emails, messages, and WhatsApp communication from the airline and updates from reliable media and authorities to understand what is happening.