Srinagar airport logs record daily flights amid rush
SRINAGAR: : The Srinagar International Airport crossed another milestone by recording the highest ever 102 to and fro daily flights as well as the highest footfall of 15,199 daily passengers early this week.
Officials said that the airport is witnessing an increasing number of passengers this spring season.
“Another milestone crossed. Another record was broken. A century of flights,” wrote airport director Kuldeep Singh on Tuesday in a tweet while sharing the passenger and flight figures of Monday. On Monday, the airport had recorded the highestever figures in its history.
“Our traffic on 11 Apr 2022: Arrivals: 7,305 passengers on 51 flights. Departures: 7,894 passengers on 51 flights. Total: 15,199 passengers on 102 flights,” the Srinagar airport said.
The Valley is recording a heavy rush of tourists and visitors from various parts of the country. Kashmir’s iconic Tulip Garden, one of the biggest in Asia which was opened on March 23 and where 1.5 million flowers are in bloom, has witnessed an all-time high number of arrival of visitors, locals as well as domestic tourists, this year since its establishment in 2007.
For the first time on March 28, the Airport had recorded the busiest day in its history after 90 to and fro flights were operated.
The airport handled 45 arriving flights with 7,824 passengers and 45 departing flights with 7,190 passengers on March 28 with a total of 15,014 passengers.
After that, the numbers have only increased with more than 90 to and fro flights multiple times. The airport is buoyed by this year’s footfall and is planning to build another terminal to cater to the increased rush in the future. Last month the airport director said that their design capacity is less than 7,000 passengers per day and they have planned for increasing the capacity by constructing a new terminal building. “We are expected to double our space by constructing another terminal,” he had said.
The airport is investing about ₹1,500 crore in constructing a new terminal building and six more aircraft parking stands.
The airport is also planning to install a new Instrument Landing System which will improve the visibility at the airport from 1,000 m to 500 m.