By: Afaq Bhat
Srinagar: International flight operations are all set to begin from Srinagar Airport from October 23. To begin with, the first direct flight from Srinagar to Sharjah will take off on Saturday morning.
As an inaugural offer, the Go-First Airline has priced the ticket from Srinagar to Sahrjah at Rs 5500. The distance between the two cities will be covered within three hours.
“There are many Kashmiris working in the Middle East and the Srinagar-Sharjah flight will help the travelers to a great extent. One it will reduce the travel time, and second it would make the travel affordable,” said Danish Khan, whose brother works in the Middle East.
At present anyone who wants to travel to the Middle East has to first reach New Delhi and then take a flight from there. “It was an expensive affair, but now it seems that travelling to the Middle East won’t be an issue anymore,” Khan added.
On Monday Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole held a meeting regarding operation of international flights from Srinagar international Airport and necessary arrangements put in place for management of passengers.
The Div Com directed officers to execute arrangements meticulously including the management and regulation of passengers, segregation of domestic and international passengers, and conduct Rapid PCR at Airport for international passengers besides mandatory RTPCR test before 48 hours.
It appears that all the arrangements to connect Srinagar with the rest of the world directly have been finalized. It’s a big relief for travelers.
It’s in place to mention here that mainstream political leaders for long have been asking for opening direct flights from Srinagar to the Middle Eastern countries.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti had called on the then Union Tourism Minister, Mahesh Sharma in 2015 and sought his intervention in starting international flights from Srinagar Airport. As Chief Minister of erstwhile J&K state, Omar Abdullah also had strongly advocated operationalizing international flights by Air India from and to Srinagar Airport.
Tourism stakeholders are of the opinion that direct flights from Srinagar to Middle East will give a fillip to traditional Kashmiri handicrafts and businesses, and would also help in attracting foreign tourists to the Valley. ““In 2010-2011 Srinagar to Dubai international flight was operating once a week but AirIndia stopped the operation after six months. That shouldn’t happen this time. This time we hope the Srinagar-Sharjah flight becomes a routine affair,” said a businessman.
He said that the Srinagar-Sharjah flight is good news but the government should ensure consistency.
