Fifteen flights cancelled after bad weather persists for sixth consecutive day in Srinagar, disrupts operations at city's airport

Srinagar: Low visibility and accumulation of snow at the Srinagar airport led to the cancellation of 15 flights on Thursday morning, officials said. Most parts of the valley received snowfall overnight. “The air traffic remained affected on Thursday as well as no flight operations took place in the morning,” an official of the airport said. He said 15 morning flights of various airlines to and fro Srinagar were cancelled. “The flights were cancelled due to accumulation of snow on the runway and low visibility,” the official said. He, however, said the other flights for the day were kept on standby as there was the possibility of flight operations taking place later in the day if the weather improved. Flight operations have been affected at the airport for the past few days. All flights were cancelled on 12 and 13 January, but few operated on 14 January. However, flight operations did not take place on Wednesday as well due to continued snowfall. Most plain areas in the valley received moderate to heavy snowfall on Wednesday which continued during the night, a MET official said. He said the higher reaches of the valley, Jammu region and Ladakh Union Territory received heavy snowfall. He said there are chances of light snowfall at isolated to scattered places of Jammu and Kashmir over the next 24 hours. “No major snowfall is expected for the next five days. Another spell of lesser intensity is likely from 21 to 24 January, he added.