Alert! Five airports, inlcuding Srinagar, Amritsar shut for civilian flights till May amid tension with Pakistan

Amid tension between India and Pakistan, airports in Jammu, Srinagar and Leh are shut indefinitely on Wednesday, shortly after an IAF aircraft crashed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam district. The fresh reports says the airports will be shut for three months, i.e till May.

“Airports in Leh, Jammu, Srinagar and Pathankot in high alert. Airspace suspended due to security reason. Many commercial flights on hold,” news agency ANI reported.

Flight operations at Amritsar airport, along with Dehradun airport also have been temporarily suspended.

Immediately after India shut airports services adjacent to the border, Pakistan stopped its domestic and international flight operations from Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Islamabad airports.

“International flights that transit between Indian and Pakistani airspace now being affected. Some flights returning to origin, while others appear to be seeking alternate routing,” reported news agency ANI.

"The civilian air traffic has been suspended temporarily in view of the emergency," an official of the Airports Authority of India in Srinagar told PTI.

Air Vistara tweeted that flights from Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh and Jammu are on hold due to the airspace restrictions. “Due to airspace restrictions, flights to and from Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh and Jammu are currently on hold. Customers are requested to check flight status before commencing their journey to the airport,” Vistara tweeted.

The armed forces of India are on high alert after Pakistan violated Indian air space. The area has been on high alert amid warnings of retaliation.

Also read: J-K: Pak violates Indian air space in Rajouri's Nowshera, drops bomb near Indian Army post