Air traffic resumes at Srinagar airport

Srinagar: In a relief for stranded passengers, air traffic to and from Srinagar International Airport resumed Thursday after remaining suspended for the last three days due to foggy conditions.

"Air traffic resumed this afternoon. Two flights from Delhi have landed while one flight and a state aircraft carrying Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has also taken off from here," Director, Airport Authority of India, Srinagar, R K Shinde told PTI.

He said a SpiceJet flight was the first to land at the airport followed by Indigo and it was the first flight as well to take off from here in the last four days.

The Chief Minister also left in the state aircraft along with some of his cabinet ministers for Jammu, he said.

He said normal operations are expected with the improvement in the weather.

Some flights were delayed in the morning due to bad weather but no flight has been cancelled so far, Shinde said.

Air traffic to and fro Srinagar International Airport remained suspended for the past three days due to foggy conditions, leaving thousands of passengers, including tourists, stranded.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department here has predicted rains over the plains and snowfall over the higher reaches which could provide respite from foggy conditions.

The minimum temperature recorded in the summer capital Srinagar was 5.6 degrees Celsius ? over a degree up from the previous night - an official of the Meteorological Department said.

He said Gulmarg ski-resort in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius and was the only place in the Valley where mercury stayed below the freezing point.