Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 4: After clearance by the Indian Air Force (IAF), Airports Authority of India (AAI) today said that the Srinagar International Airport is ready for the operation of night flights.
Director, Airport Authority of India in Srinagar, R K Shinde, told a news conference here that once the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gives clearance, the night flights will be started. “It is for those airlines, which are interested to commence the operations, to take a call. The only thing that they have to obtain is a clearance from the DGCA”, he said.
Shinde said a team of DGCA is expected to visit the airport this month to take stock of facilities for starting the night operations.
“Basically, we are ready, the infrastructure is ready. Since, this airport is a civil enclave, it was supposed to be cleared by Indian Air Force and IAF has already cleared it for night operations up to 10.00 PM,” said Director AAI.
Shinde said a number of steps have been taken to strengthen the security at the airport particularly after the attack on IAF base at Pathankot.
“This is a hypersensitive airport and that is why since the beginning we have Jammu and Kashmir police for anti-hijacking purpose and CRPF, with arms deployed here,” the Director said.
After the Pathankot attack, the security has been intensified. He said that there is multiple checking of the passengers as well as luggage, secondary ladder-point checking. “We have deployed additional Quick Response Teams which used to move to and fro and keep the vigil in the airport area,” he added.
Shinde said AAI has planned expansion of the airport for which the works are already in the pipeline. “The expansion has been considered to handle the traffic to the tune of 5.72 million passengers per annum by the end of 2023, an increase from 2.04 million passengers per annum right now. The building size, right now, is around 19,700 square metres”, he added.
The Director said that they are adding 33, 000 square metres to the parking bay soon so that 11 aircrafts are accommodated here. “We are going to add an additional capacity of 33,000 square metre and this expansion will be on the left side of the existing terminal because we are already in a constraint. We will then have two additional aircraft stands, so that total stands will become 11. Also we will be having a common user domestic terminal to handle the domestic cargo in better manner,” he said.
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