Four flights cancelled in Kashmir

Srinagar, Dec 9 (UNI) As many as four flights were cancelled today due to bad weather conditions at Srinagar airport.

However, the three special flights of Indian carrying Haj pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir took off from here as per schedule.

Airport sources said the flights of GoAir, Deccan, Jetlite and SpiceJet airlines were cancelled due to bad weather conditions.

However, other airlines -- Jet Airways, Indian and Kingfisher -- were able to operate their services from Srinagar airport. Some of these airlines operate two flights a day.

The air traffic between the Kashmir valley and the rest of the world had remained cut off for several days in the recent past due to heavy fog and poor visibility at the Srinagar airport.

The Jammu and Kashmir government had earlier decided to approach the Union Civil Aviation Ministry for installation of CAT-1 lighting facility at the Srinagar airport to allow landing of flights in poor visibility conditions.

The Director General Civil Aviation had changed the criterion for landing at the Srinagar airport from 1.5 km visibility to 2.2 km.

The change was made at the behest of foreign pilots who were not ready to land at below 2.2-km visibility. In contrast, Indian pilots operated at 1.5-km visibility, which was the case last year also.

UNI