Air traffic at Srinagar International Airport was again suspended for the fifth successive day, following foggy weather conditions in Kashmir, with the Meterological department predicting snow fall and rains from today onward.

As per the officials at the Srinagar airport, all flights scheduled for Wednesday were again cancelled in view of the foggy weather conditions in the Valley.

Director Srinagar International Airport, Santosh Dokay  that all flights from Srinagar were cancelled on Tuesday.

“Due to poor visibility on the track, all 27 flights scheduledfor today were cancelled,” he said. “We haven’t witnessed such foggy weatherfor the past 10 to 15 years that has disrupted the flight operations for more than  4to 5 days.”

For the past four days, about 113 flights had been cancelledat the airport due to poor visibility, leaving thousands of passengers strandedin Kashmir.

As per the officials, around 26 to 28 flights operate fromthe Srinagar airport everyday during the winters.With the cancellation of airtraffic, the fares of air tickets are touching the skies.

A group of passengers at TRC Srinagar said there was 40 to60 percent increase in airfares for the past 5 days and the government hadfailed to regulate the airline fares.

They said, last year, the government had announced that theywould regulate airfares but things had remained unchanged on the ground.

However, the Meteorological department Tuesday predicted light rains and snowfall in the plains while the upper reaches of Kashmir wouldreceive moderate to heavy snowfall from December 11 to 14.

Director Meteorological department, Sonam Lotus told RisingKashmir that they were expecting another spell of light snowfall and rains inthe plains and moderate to heavy snowfall in the upper reaches from Wednesday onward.

He said the main activity of the snowfall would be on December 12 and 13 and the upper reaches in Ladakh would also receive heavysnowfall during this period.

“This spell of snowfall may lead to temporary disruption of air and road traffic operations in Kashmir region and Union Territory ofLadakh,” Lotus said.

As per the officials at the Meteorological department,Srinagar dipped to minus 2.4 degree Celsius and recorded day temperatures of3.2 degree Celsius on Tuesday.

North Kashmir’s Kupwara district recorded a low of minus 3.2 degree Celsius last night while night temperatures in Pahalgam in south Kashmirsettled at a low of minus 3.3 degree Celsius last night, the official said.

Leh district recorded a low of minus 13.6 degrees Celsiuslast night while night temperature in Qazigund settled at a low of minus 2.5degree Celsius.

The ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded aminimum temperature of minus 4 degree Celsius while Jammu recorded a maximum of19.4 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 8.7 degrees Celsius.

Officials at the Traffic department said there would be aone-way traffic on Srinagar-Jammu highway on Wednesday and the passage ofvehicles would be allowed from Jammu toward Srinagar.

“No vehicles will be allowed from the opposite direction,”the officials said.

On Srinagar-Leh highway, the passage of vehicles from Sonamarg toward Kargil would be allowed on Wednesday, the officials said.

Similarly, the passage of vehicles on the Mughal Road connecting the Pir Panjal region would be allowed from Shopian to Rajouri on Wednesday.