by Syed Samreen

Srinagar

With over a 25 flights winging their way from the International airport Srinagar, the number has dropped to zero since the valley witnessed days of fog and the invisibility due to it, for the last six days.

According to an airport official, there used to be a total of 8000 passengers plying to and fro the airport daily with almost 28-29 daily flights carrying them. But since the weather conditions are extremely hazy and foggy, all the flights have been cancelled since last week’s Saturday and also a few in the afternoon of last week’s Friday.

He said the visibility at the airport, due to heavy fog, was less than 100 metres and such conditions were not suitable for flight operations.

“The required visibility for the flight operations is 1,000-1,200 metres. But, it is not more than 100 metres today. So, all flights for the today were cancelled,” the official said.

The official added that this was the first time all the air traffic had been cancelled at a stretch for more than five days.

Director Meteorological department Kashmir, Sonam Lotus told Kashmir Life that the visibility will be clear from December 14 onwards.

He asserted that there has been a slight improvement in the weather today but there is a forecast of rain and snow in the Kashmir valley on December 13, with heavy snowfall in the upper reaches and a moderate snowfall in the plains.

However, December 14 onwards, there is a slight improvement in the weather.

The passengers on the first day of the invisibility were hopeful that their cancelled flights would be rescheduled to the next day, but it has been almost six days without even a single flight plying from the Airport. The special flights carrying the army personnel also met the same fate since the hazy weather,

A local passenger had his flight scheduled for today, December 12, but since the flights were cancelled, the passenger with his family will be travelling to his destination by road via the national highway.

The passengers who had an emergency to commute on the flights are finding the alternative of travelling to their destinations via the Srinagar-Jammu National highway. The highway traffic, however, shuttles between one way traffic from either side, alternatively. “The Taxi/cab drivers carrying the passengers from Srinagar to Jammu have increased their fares as there is an ascending footfall after the cancelled flight operations,” said Junaid, a passenger from Srinagar.

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