Soon, flights to operate in night at Srinagar airport

Yearned for long, night landing of commercial flights at Srinagar’s Sheikh-ulAlam international airport has become a reality now.

A test flight, late on Thursday evening ,by GoAir with members of directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) from Delhi on board took off at 7:35 and then landed back at 8:15 at the airport. “The officials were satisfied with the arrangements,” said Aakash Deep Mathur, director, airport.

People in Kashmir, including businessmen and those associated with tourism, had been consistently demanding operation of night flights from the strategically important airport.

Subsequent governments in the state have been raising the issue with the Union home and defence ministries owing to the demands of locals particularly during tourist season.

Last month, state governor NN Vohra , while chairing a high-level security meeting, was informed that the Indian Airforce (IAF) had provided the required permissions for starting of night landing operations at the airport.

Till now, the flights would mostly operate from 6:50am upto 5:30pm during summers. However, as per the new schedule the timing will extend till 10pm.

The officials said the night flights would start after August 15. “I think DGCA will give clearance by August 15 and once it comes, GoAir will plan its scheduled flights till 10pm,” Mathur said.

The airstrip of the airport is under the control of Air Force which determines the flight timings and schedules. The terminal building and apron (place to park planes) is taken care of by Airport Authority of India (AAI).

The night flight proposal was first raised by Omar Abdullahled government in 2011. On June 16, 2016, the then chief minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had flagged off a GoAir flight at 6:40pm saying “we have been waiting for this late flight for a long time”.

Last month, divisional commisioner Baseer Khan had said the introduction of night landing would give a big push to the tourism sector in particular, besides further improving the connectivity with other parts of the country and helping in improving the state economy.

As many as 37-38 flights take off and land daily at the Srinagar airport.

OFFICIALS SAY DGCA WILL GIVE CLEARANCE BY AUGUST 15 AND ONCE IT COMES, GOAIR WILL PLAN ITS SCHEDULED FLIGHTS TILL 10PM