Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 23: Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Jammu Airport today as the private airliners were not allowed to operate their flights to Jammu by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for not fulfilling the safety norms, thus, compromising with safety of the passengers but the Airport authorities this evening said the issue has been resolved and all flights will operate normally from tomorrow morning.
Director Jammu Airport Devender Kumar Gautam told the Excelsior that everything has been settled and all flights to and from Jammu Airport will operate normally from tomorrow.
“The Air India flights operated normally from Jammu Airport for all destinations including Srinagar, Leh and New Delhi. However, the issue pertained to the private airliners. There was problem with the type of aircrafts the private airliners were operating but the issue has been settled today. From tomorrow, all flights will operate normally,’’ Gautam said.
On difficulties suffered by a large number of passengers, who were stranded at Jammu or those who couldn’t reach Jammu from different places in the absence of private airlines, the Director Airport said it was up to the private airliners as to whether they carry the passengers tomorrow or refund their tickets.
Due to cancellation of flights, Union MoS in PMO reached Jammu late by four hours from New Delhi while NC leader Omar Abdullah’s visit to Jammu from Srinagar was cancelled.
Sources said as many as 2,500 passengers were affected as 30 flights were cancelled to and fro Jammu.
Nearly 30 flights could neither land at nor depart from the Jammu airport due to a directive from the IAF that asked airlines to operate with significantly less overall load.
A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), dated October 7, was issued on the grounds that the airport runway’s load bearing capacity was low. Even though the restriction was to be in place from October 14 to January 14, aviation regulator DGCA was allegedly informed about it only this week and the same was communicated to the airlines, the sources said.
“With the sudden intimation (from the IAF), the airlines were unprepared and this led to cancellation of some 30 flights, affecting as many as 2,500 passengers,” they added.
Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet together operate at least 32 flights daily to and from Jammu airport.
According to sources, the matter was taken up by the Civil Aviation Ministry with the Defence Ministry and after discussions, IAF decided to cancel the NOTAM in the evening with immediate effect.
The NOTAM — a communication that informs pilots about potential risks to flight safety — was issued by IAF after a study flagged off concerns about Jammu airport runway’s load bearing capacity.
The study is believed to have suggested that only aircraft with significantly less load than normal can operate from the runway.
While the NOTAM has been cancelled now, DGCA would be carrying out regular inspections to check the safety aspects of Jammu airport runway, sources said.
On its part, IAF would be carrying out re-carpeting work of the Jammu airport runway in a phased manner, they added.
Official sources said as per safety norms fixed by the DGCA, the aircraft was required to have 10 tyres—two in front and eight behind—for landing at Jammu Airport. While Air India aircrafts fulfilled this safety norms i.e. they were operating 10 tyres aircraft, the private airliners were operating eight tyres aircrafts—two tyres in front and six in the back—which was not only the violation of the DGCA guidelines but also compromised safety of hundreds of passengers travelling regularly from the private jets.
The DGCA has reportedly take exception to the violation of safety norms by the private airliners. A meeting was convened in New Delhi in which the private players reportedly assured the DGCA authorities that safety norms will be fulfilled shortly.
Following the assurance, the private airliners will operate their aircrafts to Jammu tomorrow, sources said.
The Air India flights from New Delhi-Leh-Jammu-Leh-New Delhi and New Delhi-Srinagar-Jammu-Srinagar-New Delhi operated normally today while rest of the flights were cancelled. The GoAir flight came to Jammu, hovered over the airspace for some time and then returned as it was not allowed to land. Rest of the flights didn’t turn up, sources said.
A large number of Srinagar, New Delhi and Mumbai bound passengers, who had booked their tickets for today for private airliners, remained stranded at Jammu Airport waiting for the flights but then returning on being told by the local authorities that the flights will not operate today.
The passengers, who had to reach Jammu from different destinations through private aircrafts, also remained stranded.
Heavy rush was witnessed at Jammu Airport throughout the day today with people suffering due to sudden cancellation of all private flights.
Sources said as many as 2,500 passengers were affected as 30 flights were cancelled to and fro Jammu.
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