Night Landing: Airliners not keen to announce flight schedule

Srinagar, Oct 11: The airline companies are not keen to announce their flight schedule for night landing at Srinagar airport, which was scheduled to commence after July.
The authorities on August 9 conducted a successful trial on Srinagar-New Delhi air-route to formally start night service by the end of the month.
However, after more than a month, the service is yet to take off at the airport.
Director Airport Authority of India, Srinagar, Sharad Kumar, told The Kashmir Monitor the airline companies have not responded to their repeated calls so far.
“We send them official communication to start the night landing of flights at Srinagar but till now there has been no response from them,” he said.
Kumar said that the infrastructure was already in place to ensure successful operating of the service.
“We have prepared the airport especially for this service. Now only the airline companies have to schedule timing of their flights for night landing,” he added.
Officials said that it took authorities seven months to develop required infrastructure for the service.
“The Instrumental Landing System (ILS) has been developed at the airport, which guides an aircraft approaching the runway to enable its safe landing. Similarly, Approaching Lighting System (ALS) has been also installed to ensure proper visibility for landing,” they said.
Sources said that the less flow of the tourists during the current season has been the main reason behind the delaying of night landing by airline companies.
“The airline companies usually cut down their flights to Kashmir when there is low passenger flow. There has been a decline in the number of visitors to Kashmir since July due to which the airline companies are not readying themselves for the service,” they said.
After frequent requests by the tourism players, the Union Minister of State Aviation, Jayant Sinha in November last year announced that night landing facility and international connectivity at Srinagar International Airport will start within next six months.
Currently, as many as 40 flights operate at Srinagar airport on average daily, which leave for many destinations of India.