Grounded: Kashmir’s turbulent year in the skies

Srinagar, Dec 29: The winter of 2025 will be remembered as a time that clipped Kashmir’s air travellers’ wings, grounding schedules, tempers, and travel plans mid-air.

As fog, ripple-effect weather, airline disruptions, and slow airport upgrades collided, Srinagar and Jammu airports lurched through cancellations, exposing how fragile Kashmir’s air lifeline remains. The period between 2018 to 2023 was marked by maximum flight cancellations at Srinagar International Airport of the last decade or so.

The occurrence of heavy fog became a common phenomenon during these years, with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data showing that the days with extremely low visibility during winter had increased since 2014.

Independent weather forecasters don’t mince words in attributing the winter smog to increasing pollution levels, coupled with extreme weather conditions being experienced globally.

The impact of bad weather on air traffic operations to Srinagar becomes a keenly watched trend during winter.

The Srinagar International Airport, which is managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has long awaited its expansion, which includes both terminal as well as runway upgradation.

Airport officials say the overall facelift to the Srinagar Airport is awaiting a nod from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Passenger handling and ensuring smooth runway operations are two sides of the coin, which are being provided the short-term attention while the Srinagar Airport expansion is waiting in the wings.

One such pleasing announcement made this year was in November, when Director Airport Javed Anjum, while speaking to reporters at a corporate event, said that an upgraded runway at the airport had been put into place.

This means that flights at the Srinagar Airport, with the help of Instrument Landing System Category-2 (ILS-2), can now make a landing even when the visibility is just 400 metres.

Comparatively, this is a vast improvement from the earlier landing conditions, where a visibility of 1000 to 1200 metres was required for an aircraft to land at the Srinagar Airport.

The ambitious objective, as stated by the Airport Director, of “least possible cancellations” this winter is still a far cry.

Going by the flight cancellation data caused by the operational issues of low-cost carrier IndiGo and the recent bad weather in north India, the interesting fact to have come to the fore is that the reason cited for cancellations was often bad weather at Delhi and Amritsar.

Although Srinagar also experienced a few days when thick fog engulfed J&K’s summer capital, the flight operations, during these days and also on days of a wet spell in the Valley, were fairly less affected.

Another important takeaway from Srinagar Airport this year has been the transparency of the AAI in terms of the ground-level situation that has a decisive impact on the plans of prospective travellers.

Amid the mass flight cancellations between December 3 and 25, owing to the IndiGo imbroglio, the airport authorities, along with all the airline representatives and other stakeholders, held preparatory sessions and dry runs to ensure that all goes well during the winter.

The facilities at the Srinagar Airport have often come under criticism.

Earlier this year, global organisation Airports Council International (ACI), in its Airports Service Quality (ASQ) rankings, revealed that Srinagar Airport was lagging.

This airport scored quite low for different parameters, including terminal service as well as hygiene.

The airport authorities based at Srinagar had written to their headquarters in New Delhi seeking finer details on the basis that it was ranked poorly.

A comedy of errors also took place at the Srinagar Airport, when the “official inauguration” of a smoking zone became a faux pas.

At a time when the expansion and upgradation at the airport are taking place at a snail’s pace, the food for thought is that passenger comfort gets priority.

It is time for the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to give Kashmir the place it deserves on the country’s aviation map, keeping in mind that the road connectivity to the Valley often remains disrupted in winters.

From capping the skyrocketing of airfares to ensure that additional flights are operational during the peak travel season, the wish list from common air travellers to Kashmir, be it a tourist or local, is never-ending.

The flyers will like to see the Srinagar Airport usher in 2026 with a hope that smooth operations and an improved passenger handling become the mantra for a new year.