Flights Cancelled At Leh Airport After IAF's C-17 Aircraft Gets Stuck On Runway

Domestic flights including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara, and Air India either diverted or cancelled their flight to and from Leh after C-17 aircraft brokedown on the runway.

The runway at Leh airport has been temporarily closed after a C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft experienced serviceability issues and is on the tarmac. As per an official of the Indian Air Force, the issue is in the process of being rectified and the runway is expected to be made available for flying by tomorrow morning, reported news agency ANI.  

As a result, all the flights to and from Leh were either diverted or cancelled today. 

Domestic flights including IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, and Vistara operate 10 flights to the hill town everyday, as per a report by Hindustan Times. 

In a tweet this morning, Vistara informed about flight diversion due to “runway restriction”. 

“#DiversionUpdate: Flight UK601 from Delhi to Leh (DEL-IXL) is returning back to Delhi airport (DEL) due to runway restriction at Leh and is expected to arrive in Delhi at 10:00 AM. Please stay tuned for further updates,” it tweeted. 

Air India, which has two daily flight operations to Leh diverted one to Srinagar while cancelled the second flight after a notice to airmen (NOTAM) was issued due to the C-17 breakdown, as per the HT report. 

Meanwhile, SpiceJet with three daily flights to the Himalayan town cancelled two of them and IndiGo cancelled all of its four flights to the airport, as per the report. 

Swedish internet-based service, Flightradar24, that shows real-time aircraft flight tracking information, also said all flight arrivals into the airport have been cancelled.

“All flights have been cancelled for today and airlines will be informed if the runway could be operational as per schedule tomorrow,” an airport official said, HT reported.