Airlines transport relief cargo free of cost to Srinagar

IndiGo deputes staff for rescue work , Air India deploys two planes

Domestic airlines are carrying relief cargo free of charge to Srinagar which has witnessed worst floods in six decades.

IndiGo has also sent seven of its employees from Delhi with rafts to Srinagar to assist rescue teams and 30 of airline's employees in that city are missing.

IndiGo is also using ACARS - a digital data link system available in its Airbus A320 planes to communicate with its headquarters in Gurgaon as other communication lines have broken down.

GoAir and SpiceJet are transporting relief cargo to Srinagar free of cost. So far, 3,297 kgs of relief supplies have been sent to Srinagar, IndiGo said.

It added that it was offering vacant seats on flight to poor passengers free and said 2,000 people were waiting outside Srinagar airport to leave the city.

"IndiGo has been transporting tonnes of relief material every day and my colleagues are going from various stations to help the situation on ground. Many of my colleagues are still missing so we completely understand. We are free allowing passengers to change flights or cancel. We have sent blankets, mattress, clothes, medicines, food, dry stores etc. My colleagues from Delhi have personally gone out with rafts to rescue locals stranded in floods," said IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh.