Relief For Kashmir No Runway Shutdown At Srinagar Airport Aai Withdraws Order

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday welcomed the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to withdraw a proposed maintenance shutdown of the Srinagar International Airport runway, a move he described as a “huge relief” for the Valley’s economy.The decision came on Saturday morning when the Srinagar airport management announced on X that the previously issued notice to airmen (NOTAM) regarding full weekly closures has been officially rescinded, ensuring unhindered daytime flight operations on all days of the week. “Passengers are advised that there will be no full airfield closure at Srinagar airport this year. Airport operations will continue on all days with operational/watch hours from 8am to 5pm. Night closures for runway maintenance will continue until October 2026,” the airport’s social media update said.The airport authorities said that airlines will update their flight charts to align with the revised daytime operational hours. Passengers have been requested to cross-check their flight status with respective airlines before heading to the terminal and to rely strictly on official channels for updates.Robust bookingsThe planned closure, which would have halted flight operations every Monday and Tuesday from July alongside a fortnight-long shutdown in October, had already begun hitting the local economy. Abdullah said several tourism groups had even started cancelling scheduled bookings just a day prior to the relief order.At present, the Kashmir Valley is seeing a high influx of tourists, and hotel and tour operators have reported robust bookings for the upcoming autumn season.The chief minister had raised the airport closure issue directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, and civil aviation minister K Rammohan Naidu over the past few weeks. “Grateful to the defence minister @rajnathsingh Sb & civil aviation minister @RamMNK for acceding to our request and suspending the airport closure order. This closure had created a lot of difficulties for regular travellers and forced tour groups/tourists to cancel planned visits,” Abdullah posted on X.Tourism recoverySrinagar airport has registered exponential growth in air connectivity over the past decade, strengthening regional business and local tourism.According to recent data from the airport director, passenger volume surged by 120% over the past ten years—growing from 20.4 lakh in 2014-15 to 44.7 lakh in 2024-25. While the airport experienced a brief slump in footfall following the April 22, 2025, terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, the authorities confirmed that passenger footfall has since returned to normal.During his deliberations with the defence ministry, Abdullah had proposed exploring historical precedents to avoid a complete shutdown of the airport. He pointed out that during similar runway resurfacing projects in 1998 and September 2010, commercial flights were successfully rerouted to the Awantipora air force base under a coordinated mechanism between the defence and civil aviation ministries to keep Kashmir connected.