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Srinagar-Dubai direct flight from V-Day

By Yusuf Jameel

Come Valentine’s Day, and Kashmir will see the launch of International flights from Srinagar’s modernised airport and the opening of the second section of the Valley’s dream train. After the inauguration of Srinagar airport’s new terminal by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the first Air India Express flight will take off for Dubai. Kingfisher and some other private airlines too have sought permission from the Union civil aviation ministry for more flights on the route.

Kashmir tourism officials and tourist traders say Srinagar’s finding a place on the international aviation map will bring a "significant change" in the tourism scenario in the Valley. "It is a grand, encouraging development. With a direct flight between Dubai and Srinagar, we can hope for a large number of Arabs along with their families turning to Kashmir for holiday," said tourism director Farooq A. Shah.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah too is convinced that Kashmir, with gushing waters, mighty snow-capped mountains and magnificent landscapes, surely offers the "best options" to the travellers from the Gulf. "It would be an inspiration for so much we have to offer them," he said.

"The Gulf is our thrust area for attracting tourists as Kashmir is very near to them," added Shah. Officials also believe that their initiative has come at the right juncture as Arab tourists have been facing security problems in the West in the aftermath of 9/11 and as a result of the so-called war on terrorism.

Kashmir tour operators admit that not many Western tourists choose Kashmir as a destination following the separatist campaign becoming violent about two decades ago. Several countries including the US, Britain and Australia, have, while ignoring the pleas from the state government that Kashmir is now safe for tourists, only renewed their adverse travel advisories asking their citizens to avoid the region.

"We’re now eyeing the Gulf and are optimistic about it working well," said Rauf Ahmed, a tour operator. The lean season, from July to August, in the Valley coincides with the holiday season in the Gulf. Government officials and the tour operators are unanimous in their view that the visit of hundreds of thousands of domestic tourists can be used by them to portray it as a sign of normalcy.

Air India Express, which offers flights to 10 major international destinations including Dubai and Abu Dhabi within a distance of around four hours from nine Indian cities, has inducted a fresh B737-800 aircraft increasing its fleet size to 21 aircraft, including seven leased aircraft.

The new aircraft inducted in the fleet has "shikara on the Dal Lake in Kashmir" on one side of the tail and an "image of a large expanse of the Rajasthan Desert" on the other side. The tail designs are an innovative and novel feature of the Air India Express fleet. Each of the aircraft showcases the picturesque landscapes, monuments, birds, animals, handicraft and dances of India on both sides of the tail.

The Air India Express is reported to be contemplating to go for a Dubai-Jeddah connection to make the flight commercially viable by flying Umra groups from Srinagar. Former director general of tourism, Muhammad Ashraf, said: "Keeping in view the keen desire of the people to perform umra in Mecca, there will be sufficient load for the flight if it is operated with the Jeddah connection." Currently, only chartered Haj flights operate to and from Srinagar airport during the pilgrimage season.

He also believes that with the start of the first flight from Srinagar to Dubai, a gateway would be opened to many more destinations. "Jeddah, Muscat, Kuwait, Doha and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf are all almost equidistant from Kashmir," he said. "Arabs with families coming for holidays in hot summers and Kashmiris going out for umra and shopping during winters," he asserted and added that in addition to all these, the flights would be able to carry lot of cargo from Kashmir, especially handicrafts, fruit, vegetables, flowers and possibly trout fish.

Involving a cost of Rs 1,100 crores, the Srinagar International Airport, which is likely to be named after Kashmir’s saint Sheikh Nooruddin, has integrated terminal building for domestic and international passengers with aero bridges. The new terminal building, comprising six sections and spread over an area of more than 200, 000 square feet, will handle 500 domestic and 450 international passengers at a given point, the officials said. They added that it will be first airport in India to have inline baggage X-ray system.