Delhi IGI Sees 90+ Cancellations and 200+ Delays as Airspace Curbs Bite
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) saw significant disruptions on Thursday, May 9, 2025, with over 90 flights called off and more than 200 grounded by delays. Authorities attributed the cancellations—spanning 79 domestic services (46 departures and 33 arrivals) and 11 international routes (five departures and six arrivals)—to shifting airspace restrictions amid rising India-Pakistan tensions. FlightRadar24 data indicated that the delayed flights experienced an average holdup of 18 minutes.
Earlier in the week, as a ripple effect of “Operation Sindoor”—India’s precision strikes on terror targets across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir—airports at 21 locations in northern and northwestern India were closed from Wednesday until May 10. On that day alone, IGIA recorded 135 cancellations (65 domestic landings, 66 take-offs, and four international services) and saw over 300 flights pushed back, underscoring the broader regional impact on civil aviation.
Despite the turmoil, airport authorities affirmed that all four runways and terminals at IGIA remained fully operational. In a statement posted at 10 AM on the social-media platform X, they advised travelers to verify flight statuses with their carriers, noting that “changing airspace conditions have impacted some flights” but assuring that overall operations continued as usual.
Airline responses varied: IndiGo announced the cancellation of all services to and from Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh, Dharamshala, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Gwalior, Kishangarh, and Rajkot until 05:29 hours on May 10, with further schedule tweaks possible. Among those caught in the delays was AAP MLA Sanjeev Kumar of Burari, whose flight to Darbhanga—cleared for boarding at 10:15 AM—remained on the tarmac for over three hours before finally taking off and touching down around 4 PM
Image Credits- Indira Gandhi Airport
