Srinagar: After witnessing partial operations at the Srinagar International Airport on Fridays and weekends during February and March this year, normal flight operations on these days have resumed at the aerodrome.
As per Director, Airports Authority of India ( AAI) Srinagar, Kuldeep Singh the “full-fledged flight operations on Fridays and the weekends have resumed at the airport,”
It may be mentioned that evening flights to and fro Srinagar airport were suspended for three days a week for two months to carry out strengthening works on the runway.
The suspended evening flights were due to Polymer Modified Emulsion work on the entire runway during the months of February and March. This as per officials was necessary to strengthen the runway for the operation of flight and also to control the wear and tear.
The work was undertaken on all Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the months of February and March. “We will ensure that the flight disruption is reduced to minimum by working only from 5 pm to 6 am during the night time. The runway will be available and the flights will be operated from 6 am to 5 pm,” the authorities had earlier said.
The affected flights scheduled to operate after 5 pm on the last three days of the week had to be pre-poned to operate before 5 pm every day.
However, resumption of evening flights during Fridays and weekends has brought cheer among travellers, especially tourists. Pertinently, airliners operating on the Srinagar route have decided to add almost fifteen new flights in their summer schedule, submitted to the central aviation regulator. It will take the total number of flights scheduled to Srinagar to 55.
An Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said the new flights include several Delhi-Srinagar flights and flights from other cities of the country to Kashmir. It may be mentioned that 38 to 44 flights were slotted in the winter schedule this year, which was effective till March 26.
AAI officials last Tuesday said that March 28 was the busiest day in the history of the Srinagar International Airport as 90 flights with 15,014 passengers were handled.
“90 flights operated yesterday at the Srinagar International Airport with a passenger load of 15,014 which is the highest ever handled at this airport. Last time the highest figure was 13,700 passengers a day. Yesterday there were 45 arriving flights carrying 7,824 passengers and 45 departing flights with 7,190 passengers. We hope to register higher figures during the coming months since it is just the beginning of the tourist season in Kashmir” an official of the Srinagar Airport Tweeted. The airport official said that the challenge has been to thwart congestion.
“Our concern is to ensure there is no congestion at the airport. We are upgrading the infrastructure and placing help desks at several places to ensure each passenger is facilitated,” he said.
In order to cater to the rush of passengers , which is ever increasing, the airport is soon to get a new terminal building.
“A new building is also coming up to accommodate more passengers. That will help address the issue of congestion. At present, we are ensuring that there is no congestion at the airport and for that a series of steps have been taken,” Kuldeep Singh, Director of the Airport said.