Air Canada temporarily suspends flights to India

Toronto [Canada], Feb 27 (ANI): Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Air Canada on Wednesday temporarily suspended its flight services to India, following a decision by the Pakistan government to close its airspace.
Air Canada cancelled one flight to New Delhi from Vancouver, while another flight en route to India has turned back to Toronto.
"We have put in place a goodwill policy for affected customers and are monitoring the situation in order to resume service once the situation normalizes and we determine it is safe to do so," Canada's largest air carrier said in a statement.
Air Canada operates daily service from Toronto and Vancouver to New Delhi and four times weekly between Toronto and Mumbai.
A day after India carried out aerial strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan in which a "large number" of terrorists were killed, Jammu and Kashmir saw heightened military activity today, with Pakistani jets violating the Indian air space and dropping some bombs in Rajouri sector after which one of their fighters was shot down.
Following Pakistan's action, India said it foiled an attempt by Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir by shooting down an F-16 fighter plane while losing its own MiG-21 jet after which a pilot was “missing in action”.
Earlier today, flight operations across eight airports in India -- Amritsar, Pathankot, Srinagar, Jammu, Shimla, Dharamshala, Kullu and Leh were shut briefly. Operations later resumed in all the airports.
India summoned Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan and lodged a strong protest over the unprovoked act of aggression by Islamabad against New Delhi, including the violation of the Indian airspace by Pakistan Air Force and targeting of Indian military posts. (ANI)