The flights will operate from Jammu Airport in a restricted manner for 41 days after Indian Air Force (IAF) withdrew its proposal to completely close the airport for 15 days for repair work.
“Now it has been unanimously decided that now the Jammu Airport will be available for operations from 6 am to 1 pm with last flight departure at 12:50 pm from March 10 to April 19, 2021,” an official said, quoting a communication.
On Friday, Defence Secretary, Dr Ajay Kumar chaired a high level meeting at New Delhi regarding closure of Jammu Airport for runway resurfacing work.
“Complete closing of the airport will cause not only inconvenience to the common public but also a disruption in the effort towards the sustained connectivity of Jammu and Kashmir with rest of India. Hence, all available options need to be explored,” the Defence Secretary had observed in the meeting which was attended by top ranking officials from Air Force, Ministry of Defence and Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Following discussion in the meeting, the official said: “It was decided that a joint committee comprising representatives from IAF, MES and AAI will work out a feasible and mutually acceptable plan which could avoid complete closure of the airport to the extent possible and submit their recommendations within a week.”
Earlier, the IAF had proposed complete closure of the runway at Jammu Airport for 15 days from March 5 for laying DAC layers on the runway surface. However, it was opposed by the AAI and the airlines.