Flights to Srinagar cancelled again due to fog

All morning flights to Srinagar were cancelled for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday due to poor visibility, forcing stranded passengers to return home.

"All the morning flights to Srinagar international airport have been cancelled today (Thursday). The arrival of other flights during the day will depend on improvement in visibility," an official at the airport told IANS on Thursday.

The official said the visibility in the morning was just 300-400 metres, while a minimum visibility of 1,000 metres is mandatory for flights to land or take off at Srinagar.

For the last three days, all the flights to and from Srinagar have been cancelled due to foggy weather. This has left many passengers stranded.

The airport is not equipped with an advanced instrument landing system (AILS) as is mandatory for all international airports in the world.

Ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and Lok Sabha member Mehbooba Mufti has said she would take up the issue of installing an AILS at the airport with the central defence and civil aviation ministries.

The Jammu-Srinagar national highway gets closed due to snowfall and landslides during the winter months, and disruption of air services causes much concern in the Kashmir Valley.