The entire airspace north of New Delhi has been vacated, official sources said on Wednesday.
The skies above the capital were vacated as nine airports in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab were closed for civilian air traffic on a day of rapidly escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
Airports at Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Pathankot, Amritsar, Shimla, Kangra, Kullu Manali and Pithoragarh were among those closed, they said.
National security adviser Ajit Doval was holding a high-level meeting to assess the security situation in the wake of the developments of the morning, including Pakistan claiming that it had shot down two Indian military jets and arrested two pilots.
India said Pakistan jets intruded into Indian air space in the Rajouri and Poonch sectors.
