Press Trust of India

Int’l flight operations resume at Sgr airport

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Hajj, Umrah body presses for direct flight from Srinagar to Jeddah

Srinagar: After the demands raised by the people, especially the business community, the international flight operations have resumed at Srinagar airport on Wednesday.
Officials said that GoFirstAirlines flight G81595 operated on Srinagar-Sharjah sector on Wednesday.
“The flight is carrying 108 passengers. This is also the first international flight after inauguration of the International Cargo operations from our airport. This flight will now be regularly operating on every Tuesday and Wednesday at 1945 hours,” an official communiqué said.
It added that the flight can carry a maximum of three tonnes of cargo to Sharjah.
“The doors have now opened wide for export of our industrial, agricultural, and handicraft products. We call upon all the business houses and exporters of Kashmir to make full use of the facility,” it added.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Association of Hajj and Umrah Companies (JKAHUC) demanded direct flight from Srinagar to Jeddah for Umrah and Hajj pilgrims.
Addressing a presser here JKAHUC president Pervez Ahmed said that there is a huge demand from pilgrims intending to perform Hajj or Umrah to have a direct flight from Srinagar Airport to Jeddah.
He said that though Umrah services have been resumed by Saudi Arabia but there are Covid regulations and SOPs to be followed by pilgrims. All these measures aimed at preventing the spread of Covid have resulted in cost escalation.
Amid this, according to him, lack of direct flight connectivity from Srinagar Airport to Jeddah is causing trouble to pilgrims as well as making the pilgrimage expensive. Currently, pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir have to take an international flight for Saudi Arabia from New Delhi or Mumbai airports.
“Under these circumstances, the revival of the outbound pilgrim travel from J&K is a challenging task. But the members of JKAHUC are fully determined to put their best foot forward in this direction and bring pilgrim travel to its original glory,” he added. (KNO)


Press Trust of India

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