Air traffic between Kashmir and the rest of the country remained affected for the second consecutive day on Wednesday due to inclement weather as intermittent snowfall was reported from most parts of the valley over the past 24 hours.
Srinagar Airport said on Twitter that eight flights were cancelled today.
“Poor visibility due to light snow prevails at our airport. Following flights have been canceled till now:- Indigo 137 to Delhi, Indigo 6738 to Jammu, Indigo 2015 to Delhi, Indigo 2364 to Delhi, GoFirst 358 to Delhi, GoFirst 193 to Delhi, GoFirst 267 to Delhi and Vistara 611 to Jammu,” a tweet from Srinagar Airport said.
An official of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) told news agency PTI that flight operations have not been possible at Srinagar airport due to bad weather.
He further said the resumption of air traffic would depend on the weather conditions.
The suspension of air traffic has resulted in hundreds of tourists getting stranded in the Valley.
Officials in the tourism department said that a good number of tourists had arrived in Kashmir for celebrating New Year and were planning to return home now.
It has been snowing in most places of the valley intermittently over the past few days but the arterial Srinagar-Jammu national highway is open for vehicular traffic.
The traffic department has advised motorists to exercise caution while travelling on the national highway in view of the snowfall.
Due to the snowfall, Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature of 0.8 degree Celsius on Tuesday night, up from the previous night’s 0.6 degrees Celsius.
Gulmarg, the famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 4 degrees Celsius.
The mercury in Kupwara in north Kashmir settled at a low of zero degrees Celsius.
The Kashmir valley is currently under the grip of the 40-day harshest winter period known as ‘Chilla-i-Kalan’ which began on December 21.
