Record 90 flights operate at Srinagar airport on March 28

A record 90 flights carrying over 15,000 passengers flew to and fro Srinagar international airport on March 28 making it the busiest day in the history of the airport.

45 flights carrying 7,824 passengers landed at the airport while as many flights departed taking 7,190 passengers to various destinations, a spokesperson of the airport said.

“A total of 90 flights with 15,014 passengers makes it the busiest day in our history,” he said.

“And this is only the beginning of the summer schedule! In contrast, our design capacity is less than 7,000 passengers per day. We have planned for increasing the capacity by constructing a new terminal building. The work will soon start on the project,” he said.

Director Srinagar Airport Sharad Kumar said that this was for the first time that such a record number of flights operated at the airport. “Our concern is to ensure there is no congestion at the airport. For that, we are upgrading the infrastructure and placing help desks at several places to ensure each pilgrim is facilitated,” he said.

There has been a huge tourist rush to Kashmir in the last few months after the Covid-19 pandemic declined. In the first 21 days of this month, 1.05 lakh tourists arrived in the Valley.

Officials said besides tourists, there has been a rush of locals flying in and out of the Valley after a long time. The rush of passengers has resulted in skyrocketing airfares.

The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) recently asked J&K and Central governments to look into the procedure of fixing fares by the airlines flying to Srinagar in order to control the skyrocketing ticket charges implemented by the airlines.

The skyrocketing airfares are not only causing a great worry to the students and desperate patients who have to travel outside the valley, but also to tourist trade stakeholders.

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