“The flight operations at Srinagar airport have been suspended till further notice due to continuous snowfall and low visibility,” Director, Airport Authority of India (AAI), Srinagar Airport, Kuldeep Singh informed.
While the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir experienced moderate to heavy snowfall, the areas in the plains received light to moderate snowfall. He said the flight operations took place in the morning, but had to be suspended after 10 am due to low visibility and snowfall.
An official at Air India, which operates direct flights to five American cities, said there could be some delays for its flights from the US due to possible runway congestion. Hundreds of flights across the US were grounded early morning on Wednesday following a technical failure in the system that provides safety info to flight crews.
Most of the airlines, including, Air India, Air Asia, IndiGo, Spice Jet and Vistara, have cancelled all their remaining flights for the day due to the bad weather, Singh said.
Other airlines also have cancelled several of their flights, he added.
The inclement weather has also resulted in the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway – the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country, the officials said.
The highway was closed for traffic due to landslides at Mehar, and slippery conditions of the road, they said.
The officials said road clearance operations were going on, but continuous snowfall and rain was making the job difficult.
