Delhi airspace to remain available for civilian aircraft today

Delhi airspace will remain available for civilian aircraft operations for the entire day on Tuesday with the Indian Air Force (IAF) deciding not to conduct flypast for the Republic Day rehearsal after the exercise went off well on Monday. Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages the civilian airspace, had earlier issued a NOTAM to the airlines, making Delhi skies out of bounds for commercial flights arriving and departing out of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here for more than an hour every day from January 19 till January 24 and for a similar period on January 26.

An IAF official said the force normally keeps one day as a "backup" for flypast rehearsal. "Since the rehearsal went off well today (Monday), we decided to not continue the exercise tomorrow (Tuesday)," said the official. According to NOTAM, no landing or take-off of any commercial flight will be allowed from IGIA between 1035 hours to 1215 hours from January 19 to 24 and then again for the same duration on January 26.