From 7 a.m. on 11 September to 11 p.m. on 13 September the sky around Delhi is a managed zone, not an open FIR. The Airports Authority’s NOTAM keeps scheduled airline flights and approved summit movements alive. Almost everything else needs a reason. Non-scheduled take-offs and landings inside 300 kilometres are barred in those hours unless the Ministry of Home Affairs has cleared them. State aircraft carrying a governor or chief minister may fly. So may IAF, BSF and Aviation Research Centre missions, Army helicopters on quick-response or casualty work, and medical evacuations cleared by the home ministry. About thirty-five special aircraft are expected for the summit itself, treated as scheduled once ATC has the plan. Safdarjung is shut except for specified IAF, BSF and NSG helicopters. Rohini Helipad is shut completely. Flight schools in seven states cannot even start an engine. Drones and short-range toys are banned within 100 kilometres. That is not a VIP convoy notice. It is a temporary rewrite of who owns the air.
The altitude rule is the part airline crews will feel even when the timetable looks normal. Climbing traffic must be at Flight Level 290 by the time it is 200 kilometres from Delhi. Arrivals may leave that level only once they are at least 200 kilometres out. FL290 is roughly 29,000 feet. Forcing a jet to be that high that far out, or to stay that high that long on the way in, is a fuel and energy problem as much as a security one. It changes top-of-descent, holding options, engine anti-ice choices and the moment a crew can start down into weather. It also loads Delhi ATC with a cleaner high-level picture while the bubble is live. Corporate jets, charters and air ambulances that normally use Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh or the smaller fields inside the ring lose the easy day trip. Some will wait. Some will route around and burn more. Nobody has published a count of the movements cancelled. The silence is the story. General aviation only becomes visible when a NOTAM turns it off.
Police, military and scheduled carriers keep rights. A sick passenger who needs a civilian air ambulance still needs an MHA stamp. A company that planned a board meeting in Jaipur by Challenger this morning does not. A flying club at Hindon or a school outside Lucknow sits on the ground. That hierarchy is defensible for three days over a gathering of heads of government. It is not a doctrine India should improvise every time. London writes event airspace months ahead, with charts, exemption desks and a published clock. India still issues the circle, the FL290 line and the FTO email in the same week as the motorcade. The repeatable protocol would name the radius, the hours, the exemption desk, the medevac phone, the fuel-burn allowance for the altitude rule, and the date the bubble dies. Until that exists, every summit will teach the same lesson. Scheduled passengers keep flying. Everyone else learns they were guests in the FIR.