An adventure called flying into and out of Srinagar, J&K

( Below article was posted in A.net few months back. Hope you like it! )

I recently took a week long break spending time in Kashmir valley, India (Srinagar and surroundings). Kashmir, sounds familiar? Yeah, its the "head" (or say crown) of India on the map. Its known more for wrong reasons (terror, violence and unrest) from past 20 years. Anyway, thats not the subject I am discussing here. Things have cooled down a lot in the last 5 years. Kashmir is now enticing and luring people from all over the country, desparetly wanting to escape wrath of Indian summer .

Having said that, I can't really avoid talking about unrest... the one at DEL airport in the morning rush hour. I reached airport at 6:45 am to catch my DN flight, scheduled to depart at 8:00 am. Terminal 1B was already buzzing and swarming with pax. There was this familiar atmosphere of confusion and chaos common to any metro airport of India. Cars and taxis abruptly stopping to unload their occupants infront of the terminal causing honkings and shrieks from others who want to do the same. Bunch of airline staff in their colorful uniforms smoking and gossiping. Groups of people gathered near the entrance to give some last minute advice to their departing friends and relatives. Music of brass band emanating from arrivals , probably to welcome a politican or holy men. A stray dog which almost manages to sneak inside the terminal only to be chased away by a security staff with a machine gun....

I made my way to DN check in counters. Thankfully (and unfortunatley) they had (only) one separate counter for SXR (Srinagar) flight. This resulted in a irrecognizable queue which seem to discourage anybody wishing to join in. Reminding myself that patience is the ultimate virtue, I located its tail and waited for my turn. Most of the pax seem to be Delhiites in holiday mood in their joyful dresses and makeup. But their luggages made it look like a flee from an impending calamity. DN luggage boy was sweating and panting having to attach, pull, lift and shove the bags on the belt. Thankfully for him I didn't had a checkin luggage.

I managed to get my boarding card in about 15 mins. They didn't bothered to check my ID, which was bit surprizing considering the destination. Security check was brief and quick as there were three lines operating today. It was now about 7:00 am and there were no empty seats left in the waiting hall.

DN surprized everyone by announcing the boarding of SXR flight at 7:10 am. I made my way to the waiting bus along with others and soon we were on our way towards the aircraft.



Flight : DN 625
ETD : 8:00 am ETA: 9:20 am
Actual : 7:55 am 9:00 am
Aircraft type: A320
Registration: VT-ADX

Today the flight was almost packed. I peered around and couldn't find an emptry seat. DN should be making a killing in this route in this season. Good for them. We were being refuelled. The chief FA made an announcement on PA urging pax "Not to wear seat belts and not to use cell phones". This caused a bit of confusion and resulted in clicks and clacks of metal flaps for a long time. A full aircraft meant a busy toilet. FAs were pleading pax to return to their seats and avoid using toilet till we took off.

Our aircraft was parked amidst what seemed to be a Kingfisher country. I was seated on the left and saw few IT tails. No surprize here as both IT and DN should be sharing the ground support these days. Our next parking stand was empty. I could see from my window, soon there was a small army of men in Red KF uniforms closing in with their gears. There was an air of anticipation of some arriving IT aircraft. A tractor in IT colors hurriedly came dragging a ladder. Another tractor came pulling a bunch rattling luggage wagons. A Toyota mini van with IT stickers made a round and stopped. Few staff gathered around the bottom of ladder and chatted. As all of this was happening, a beautiful lady (rather a model) in red KF dress came running from nowhere with a bunch of sheets. She seem to search someone in the IT ground crew without success. This caused some giggles and smiles from the boys at the ladder. At a distance I saw the hissing IT aircraft taxiing towards the stand, causing ground crew to run for their positions.

Meanwhile our Captain came on PA and cheerfully announced our ontime departure and gave some tidbits about the enroute weather and time. He had a french accent. Engines were started and spooled up. With a jolt we started moving (There seem to be no need of push back in domestic apron of Delhi). A bilingual safety demo was carried out by a bored looking crew. We reached the runway and soon thundered down for a smooth takeoff.

With monsoon setting in, most of the 'plain' upto Punjab were covered in clouds. There was nothing much of a scenery till we came closer to Jammu. Clouds started clearing a bit, here and there with some amazing views of Pir panjal range. FAs came down to sell some eateries, coffee/tea and water. Pax seem to buy the eatables in a frenzy and some of them demanded things which DN wasn't serving.




Soon we were in the valley with soothingly greenish, lushingly carpeted earth. Captain announced the arrival. We made rapid descent and suddenly there was this airport, which seem to have built over a slope and appear to be at considerable height. In no time we were in its compound and made a touch down. We actually arrived early! We taxied to terminal under the watchful eyes of Indian army. There were no other a/cs at that time. Soon we disembarked and made out of the terminal. Full marks to DN for managing a full flight with ontime arrival.

Flight : DN 626
ETD : 12:45 pm ETA: 2:00 pm
Actual : 1:15 pm 2:30 pm
Aircraft type: A320
Registration: VT-ADK

After spending a wonderful week in Sringar city, time had come to get back to reality.
SXR airport is a virtual fortress. The time required to reach the airport, and to obtain the boarding pass and then finally to get to the ladder of the aircraft is probably more than time required to fly to say BOM from SXR. I set out 2 hours early to airport as I had heard many stories of lengthy security procedures. I took an auto rickshaw from the city. This later proved to be a dumb idea. SXR airport has a gated military check point about 1 mile from the terminal building on the "airport avenue" (a fancy name for the road leading to airport). No auto rickshwas were allowed beyond this point. I had to bid autowallah a goodbye there and subject myself to two rounds of frisking and a thorough X-ray cum search of hand baggage. (I don't have any complaint whatsoever to be subjected to these checks, especially at places like SXR, as its for everyone's safety).

After I was declared clean, it was now time to trek towards the terminal building. I was offered a ride by a Taxi fellow for Rs.50. I bargained and brought it down to 30 and hoped in. SXR terminal building is small, but modern and airy. Now it was time to show my ticket to enter the departures and to go through one more round of frisking and X-Ray. At SXR, no hand bags are allowed inside the a/c. Everything has to be put in check-in excpet for your purse and cell phone. I reached DN check-in counter. As usual it was a scene of chaos and commotion with jolting and yelling pax who seem to be eager to get back to the swealtering heat of Delhi. After obtaining the boarding pass, it was time to move inside the waiting hall. There was yet another security check (queue) between check-in area and waiting hall.

I passed this one too. As soon as I entered the waiting hall, I was greeted by a DN staff who asked me to identify my checked in baggage. I was shown a place on the airside where baggages were scattered on the ground. I identified mine. Staff cross checked my ticket stub and the tag on the bag. It was then put to the luggage cart. I came back to waiting hall and sat waiting for our boarding annoucement. Afternoon seem to be a busy time at SXR. There was one DN (ours), one SpiceJet and two GoAir a/cs on the tarmac. LCCs seem to rule ramp.

After a delay of about 30 mins, our boarding was finally announced. I scrambled to join a swelling queue to board the a/c. And there it was, a final round of frisking before we got to the bottom of the ladder. There were separate lines of ladies and gents. This queue seem to move at the slowest pace compared to all other queues that I had managed to pass. We were on the open in the afternoon Sun. I was hungry. Thought of enduring DN cabin (albeit for one hour) was not helping either. I managed to get through this one too and made it into the a/c. Allelujah! Rest is quite DN like all the way to Delhi.

It was a total of 5 rounds of frisking and three rounds of X-rayed baggage. Thats SXR for you. But it was all worth it. Its the best time to visit the valley. Go for it!