Air traffic suspended at Srinagar airport due to poor visibility, snowfall

Air traffic at Srinagar International Airport was on Sunday suspended due to poor visibility and fresh snowfall since early this morning.

“Barring one, all incoming and outgoing flights were initially delayed and later cancelled due to poor visibility and accumulation of snow on the runway following light to moderate snowfall since early this morning,” an official said.

He said only one flight, which came from Ahmadabad, was able to land at the on airport in the valley after clearance of snow from the runway after a delay of over two hours. “The rest of the flights were cancelled,” he said, adding the flight operations from the airport will be resumed only after improvement in visibility and improvement in the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, passengers, who had arrived at the airport despite snowfall, were disappointed after they were informed that the flights have been cancelled. “I and my family were to travel to Delhi. We reached here early in the morning for an afternoon flight because he had to come from Baramulla. But after waiting for several hours, we were informed that the flight has been cancelled,” Shabir Ahmad, a local businessman told UNI.

Similar views were expressed by other travelers, who were to board flights from Srinagar airport today.

A Met department spokesperson told UNI a fresh Western Disturbance (WD), which originated from the Arabian Sea and approached the region through Afghanistan and Pakistan, has hit the region on Saturday night.He said under the influence of the WD, light to moderate rain and snow is expected at most places in Kashmir and Zojila area of Ladakh for three days from Sunday. “Weather is expected to improve from Thursday onwards,” he added. He said a weather warning has been issued for Tuesday, when heavy rain and snow could occur at some places in the valley.