Valley gets direct flights to Mumbai

This sudden increase in passenger air traffic has come at a time when work to upgrade the Srinagar air-strip into a modern international airport is going on in full swing.

Air travel has never been a luxury in Kashmir as valley has no train service and the 24-hour bus journey to Delhi is strenuous. In winters, even the road link close leaving air travel the only means to remain connected with the outside world.

‘‘Our business is pretty good,’’ Kingfisher regional head Rakesh Suri said. With the private airliner running its flights on daily basis, the total number of flights to Kashmir has gone up to 10. ‘‘We are running a Mumbai-Delhi-Srinagar flight everyday,’’ Suri said.

Director Tourism Farooq Ahamd Shah said, ‘‘The direct flights have helped the tourism industry in a big way. The tourist flow has increased manifold.”

FLYING TO PARADISE

The first passenger airliner to land at the Srinagar airport was Indian Airlines.

In 1996, Jet Airways became the first private passenger airline to start its operations in Kashmir. Sahara was the next.

In 2005, as the country witnessed a boom in domestic civil aviation, two no-frill private airlines — SpiceJet and Air Deccan started services to the Valley.