Monday, September 05, 2016

Turbulence in Valley leads to drop in air traffic to Srinagar

New Delhi: The ongoing unrest in Kashmir has hit flights to Srinagar airport, which has seen a major dip in traffic that had clocked new highs with year-round tourism for the past few years.
All airlines that fly to Srinagar, except Jet Airways and Air India, have reduced services to the Valley due to falling traffic. The number of air passengers in July declined 20 per cent compared to the previous month and more than six per cent against the same month last year. In July, the passenger footfalls at Srinagar airport declined for the first time this year on a yearly basis.
IndiGo has halved its operations to and from Srinagar “due to the current curfew situation and local unrest” from 10 flights to five a day at present, an airline spokesperson said.
SpiceJet used to operate three flights to Srinagar — from Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh — but it has closed the Chandigarh-Srinagar service “due to fall in the load factor on the route.”
GoAir has also reduced its daily flights from eight to six due to a dip in traffic at the Srinagar airport, an airline official said. Vistara currently operates seven weekly flights between Delhi and Srinagar as against its original schedule of 16 flights a week.
A Vistara spokesperson said while all its flights were as per schedule in July, it reduced its flights in August as the traffic “to the region has substantially reduced.”
05/09/16 Somesh Jha/The Hindu
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