Srinagar: Air travellers will be allowed entry to Srinagar International Airport only three hours before their flight departure to keep a check on the spread of COVID-19 infection.
Srinagar Airport officials said the decision has been taken in view of the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir and new guidelines will be in force with immediate effect.
“Time of entry to the airport is maximum 3 hours before flight departure. Some passengers are coming 7-8 hours before the flight. This increases crowd at the airport and also increases the risk of infection. Passengers are requested to please come to the airport only up to three hours before flight” said a statement issued by the Director Srinagar Airport Kuldeep Singh.
He said entry to the airport shall be given only up to three hours before flight from today. “This is necessary to control the congestion at the airport because we want to reduce the chance of infection.
Please cooperate with our security staff in maintaining access control at the airport” said the statement.
The official also said that all those passengers who are not wearing masks will not be given entry into the airport and all passengers are advised to maintain social distance to avoid further spread of COVID infection.
“COVID disease is spreading very fast. The infection is more in crowded areas. All our passengers are requested to please maintain social distance at the airport and also wear a mask at all times. We follow the rule of No Mask No Entry. There is a fine of Rs 500 if any passengers remove their mask” said the statement.
It may be mentioned that recently during days of flight cancellations due to snowfall, passengers in large numbers were seen violating the Covid19 SOP and guidelines at Srinagar International Airport. Several travellers had told Greater Kashmir that chaotic scenes were witnessed at the airport after hundreds of passengers were seen openly violating the COVID19 protocol .
The airport witnesses operations of almost 40 commercial flights every day and has seen almost 10 lakh passenger footfall between December 2020 and March 2021. As per AAI data, the annual footfalls of passengers at Srinagar is expected to increase from the current 3 million passengers to 5.2 million passengers per annum.