Tepid response to night flights at Jammu airport

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News service

Jammu, February 10

Even as the Jammu airport extended its operational timings on January 1 this year, it has received a poor response for the night flights from airlines.

After getting the approval of the Indian Air Force, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had extended the timings up to 9 pm at the airport. Earlier, it was up to 4.30 pm.

After announcing the extension of the flying hours, the AAI invited the airlines to submit their schedule. According to sources, only one airline has submitted its schedule for the Jammu-Delhi flight for 7 pm.

“Only GoAir has submitted its schedule for the Jammu-Delhi evening flight. It is likely to be introduced in summer,” the sources informed.

Notably, the timings were extended to give relief to the passengers and to promote tourism in Jammu and Kashmir.

The sources also said the airlines were not interested in extending flights to Jammu as the runway expansion work here is still pending. It is only likely to be completed by March 2020.

As the airport has only 6,700-foot-long runway, the airlines are facing loss on the Jammu route as the flights landing at Jammu airport cannot fly with the full load. The short runway also forces the pilots to use emergency brakes at the time of landing in the winter capital of the state.

Now, the Airports Authority of India, Jammu, has started the expansion of the runway up to 8,000 feet.

Only GoAir submits schedule

• After announcing the extension of the flying hours, the Airports Authority of India (AII) had invited the airlines to submit their schedule 
• Only GoAir has, however, submitted its schedule for the Jammu-Delhi flight for 7 pm 
• After getting the approval of the IAF, the AAI had extended the timings at the airport from 4:30 pm to 9 pm