The spate of cancellation of Srinagar-bound Haj and domestic flights over the past four days has a human factor, and not a natural factor as had been indicated earlier.
As it transpired at a meeting chaired by Jammau and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to take stock of the cancellation of flights, the visibility criterion for landing at the Srinagar airport has been raised by the civil aviation authorities from 1.5 km to 2.2 km recently.
The airport authority director told the chief minister that the criterion was changed by the director general civil aviation at the instance of foreign pilots who were not ready to land at the Srinagar airport at the visibility of below 2.2 km.
The point was brought to the fore by the pilots of Indian Airlines who landed a flight in 1.5 km visibility on Tuesday to lift over 200 Jeddah-bound Haj pilgrims.
The changed criterion of visibility has thrown the entire air traffic to-and-from Srinagar in a tizzy, with the Valley remaining absolutely cut off from rest of the world, as no flights either landed or departed from the airport.
The chief minister is believed to have expressed serious concern over the matter and has taken up the issue with civil aviation ministry.
The chief minister has directed authorities to ready a contingency plan to carry Haj pilgrims to Jammu for their onward flight to Jeddah. The cancellation of Haj flights has created a serious problem for the state government -- not only to dispatch of Haj pilgrims but also for reasons of availability of air corridor for the re-scheduled flights at the Jeddah airport, which remains awfully busy during the Haj period.
