Air traffic resumes at Srinagar airport after over 24-hour disruption

Srinagar: Air traffic resumed at Srinagar airport on Saturday after remaining suspended for over 24 hours due to fresh snowfall and poor visibility.
A top Beacon official said that the runway was cleared for take-off after they removed around one feet snow.
“The clearance of snow from the civil airport was challenging as the safety of the five flights that were halted at the airport in the day was also to be maintained,” said Col Mukesh Commander 32 BRTF (Border Roads Task Force).
Col Mukesh said that air traffic has been resumed as the runway has been cleared off the snow.
Only five out of the 24 scheduled flights were able to operate during afternoon hours when the run-way was cleared of snow and made operational, said an official of the Airports Authority of India.
The flights those operated included four Air India and one GoAir flight. While three flights landed at the airport Saturday, those which took off included two aircrafts parked yesterday following snowfall.
All morning flights to and from the airport were cancelled due to snowfall, which began in the late afternoon on Friday and continued in most parts of the valley Saturday morning.
Officials said it was one of the heaviest snowfalls in the recent years in the plains of Kashmir.
Srinagar recorded 10 inches of snowfall till 8:30 in the morning and the famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded two feet of fresh snow. While Qazigund recorded 11 inches, Kokernag three inches, Pahalgam 16 inches and Kupwara 17 inches of snow, the officials said