According to Union civil aviation ministry, no airline is interested in operating night flights from Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport (Srinagar Airport), Jammu & Kashmir.
Despite the fact the airport, has been accorded with the international status in 2005, it has no satisfying frequency of international flights till date.Though the airport has been well equipped with all the needed infrastructure for night flight, no airline is keen for it.
Putting forth the issue, Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah had intimated Parliament that the absence of night flights in an airport which has been cleared for international flights, causes a lot of difficulties for the citizens.
In response, the Union civil aviation ministry stated that the main hindrance for the inconvenience is that the night flights didn’t find enough customers.
“As per the respective bilateral air service agreements, Indian aircrafts are free to operate air services from any point in India to foreign destinations. However, all the operations are regulated by the traffic demand and commercial judgment of the airlines,” the ministry reported.
Sheikh ul-Alam, as an International airport, deals with 38 domestic flights a day and Hajj flights are the only international flights, being operated from the airport.
Apart from that, Srinagar being a sensitive region, its airport has to go through thorough security checks. The terrorism issue in the Kashmir region had affected its tourism sector heavily. After conflict ceased in the area, the security is being assured and tourism has been growing.
Still government advice for foreigner tourists particularly, is to remain in touristic areas as security in remote areas cannot be fully guaranteed and tourist kidnappings by terrorist groups is a concern now and then.
The Srinagar International airport being a part Indian Air Force base is maintained by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The runway, parking space and everything else belong to the IAF.
