Fog: Flights remain cancelled for 6th day

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 12

Dense fog continued to engulf Kashmir on Thursday affecting visibility, which led to suspension of air traffic for the sixth consecutive day creating difficulties for the people scheduled to travel outside or arrive in Kashmir amid an intense coldwave.

The cold conditions intensified across Kashmir as the temperature continued to be below zero degrees Celsius. Due to electricity outages the residents are facing a hard time in the freezing cold and many are shifting to Jammu where weather continues to be warmer.

Initially, three flights were suspended early morning on Thursday as the airport authorities expected an improvement in the visibility but later as the dense fog continued to surround the region all the flights were cancelled due to the low visibility.

“All flights at the Srinagar airport were cancelled on Thursday and no flight operations took place for the sixth straight day,” an official of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) said.

He said the visibility at the airport was very poor due to fog and the conditions were not suitable for flight operations.

“The visibility at the airport has been hovering around 100 to 500 metres. The required visibility is 1,000-1,200 metres. So, all flights for the day were cancelled,” the official said.

The flight operations have been severely affected at the Srinagar airport for the past five days and the Met Department has predicted precipitation in the coming days which can improve the visibility rate. On Thursday morning, light rains lashed parts of the Valley. However, the traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway continued to ply uninterrupted. With air traffic continuously getting disrupted from last one week, most of the people now prefer to travel by road to Jammu from where there is an easy access to other parts of the country.

“There can be rain and snow in the coming days,” Met Department officials said.