Air India has ferried around 5,000 army and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel to Srinagar in special night flights in recent weeks as boots on the ground are being strengthened in Jammu and Kashmir after the Pulwama attack.
There are at least three flights every night full ofsecurity personnel leaving for Srinagar from New Delhi. Air India is alsooperating the wide-body 787 Dreamliner from Kolkata to fly soldiers in.
There are now Delhi-Leh-Delhi flights twice a week charteredfor Border Security Force (BSF) men apart from a separate flight for the armyon the same route. Another regular Air India chartered service is going to beadded for the army on the Delhi-Leh-Chandigarh route.
Sources said that the Union Home Ministry had requisitionedthe aircraft which were pulled out of the normal schedule to operate specialnight flights to Srinagar.
After the February 14 Pulwama attack, the Centre had comeunder criticism for not flying the soldiers as road transport made themvulnerable to attacks.
As the situation remain tense in Jammu and Kashmir aftercrackdown on militants by security forces post-Pulwama and the prevailingpolitical situation against the backdrop of Supreme Court taking up challengesto the Constitution’s Section 35A, the Centre had decided to dispatch 45additional companies (around 135 personnel) of the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF), 35 companies of the Border Security Force (BSF) and 10 companies eachof the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP).
The diversion of the fleet has forced Air India to stretchits resources as 17 of its aircraft are already grounded because of technicalissues. The domestic aviation circuit is already reeling under the impact ofshortage of aircraft.
Even private carriers are running low. Jet Airways has 53 ofits aircraft grounded because of various reasons including the ban on operatingthe Boeing 737-8 Max after the crash in Ethiopia.
Twelve aircraft of Spicejet are grounded and 30 flights of Indigo are impacted because of shortage of pilots.