ILS Upgrade Set to End Winter Flight Cancellations: Airport Director

SRINAGAR: The Director of Srinagar International Airport, Javid Anjum, on Friday said that flight cancellations due to weather are unlikely this winter following the installation of an upgraded Instrument Landing System (ILS) Category II.

Anjum said the upgraded system allows safer and more reliable landings under low-visibility conditions.

He stated that Srinagar usually records around one thousand metres of visibility during winters, which is well within the improved capability. “Earlier, the threshold was one thousand two hundred metres, but now the system is much improved. This year, we expect no flight cancellations,” he said. The upgraded ILS can enable landings with visibility as low as four hundred metres.

The Director said the system was already functional last year and no weather-related cancellations occurred, marking a major improvement in winter operations.

He said passenger facilities have also been upgraded. “We have improved the heating system, added more seating and introduced free Wi-Fi for passengers. Twenty-two new retail shops and nine food and beverage outlets have been added, with three more expected to open soon,” he said.

On reduced flight operations, Anjum said the decrease is driven by lower passenger turnout, not operational limitations. “We had around fifty-four flights per day before the Pahalgam episode. At present, we operate about thirty. Passenger traffic has declined from about nineteen thousand five hundred daily to between eight thousand and ten thousand. However, we expect an increase with winter tourism,” he said.

Regarding international connectivity, the Director said the airport has sufficient infrastructure to handle overseas flights and a formal request has been submitted to the ministry. “We are ready, and now it depends on the airlines to come forward,” he added. KNO