Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Civil Aviation for approving five flights per week between Srinagar-Sharjah.
Sinha said that regular flights between Srinagar and Sharjah would go a long way in helping to boost trade, tourism, and people-to-people contacts.
He further noted that the UT administration and the Ministry of Civil Aviation under Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is taking necessary steps to strengthen air connectivity to meet the region's growing tourism and industry sector demands.
The direct air link between the Kashmir Valley and the UAE was revived after 11 years in October last year by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The facility has immense potential to strengthen J&K’s ties with the Gulf region, creating market linkages and enabling direct export of the region's agriculture, horticulture, and handicraft products.
The UT administration has taken several steps to ensure that air traffic to Jammu and Srinagar would grow unhindered in the future.
Recently, Jammu airport achieved a milestone by recording the highest ever footfall at 1.54 lakh passengers in the month of March on 1346 flights.
Similarly, more than 5,85,653 tourists have visited the Kashmir Valley between January and April 27 this year, which is five times more than the last year’s figure of 1.26 lakh during the same period.