Fifty eight flights carrying 9823 passengers operated on Sunday at the Srinagar airport, said the airport authorities.
The Srinagar airport is designed to handle less than 7000 passengers a day.
“We have planned for increasing the capacity by constructing a new terminal building. The work will soon start on the project”, said an airport official.
Past few days have witnessed record number of tourists reaching Srinagar by air and road.
Almost entire bed capacity in hotels, guest houses and houseboats in Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other tourist destinations has been sold-out for the summer season.
More than 1.50 lakh tourists reached Kashmir during the month of March.
Trains reaching Jammu, that is the railway station for onward road journey to Kashmir, are fully loaded from across the country.
The Srinagar airport on 28 March operated 45 incoming and an equal number of outgoing flights. “A total of 90 flights with 15,014 passengers makes it the busiest day in our history. And this is only the beginning of Summer Schedule !”, tweeted the Srinagar airport.
The airport again on 1 April handled 13,954 passengers in 90 flights. Highest number of 94 flights carrying 13,270 passengers were reported on 31 March.
With such a large number of tourist arrival, various destinations in Srinagar and other places are witnessing traffic jams.
The unprecedented tourist rush after three years of lockdowns due to Covid-19 and law and order issues is expected to boost economy of the valley. It has also provided employment to locals. The tourism sector in Kashmir is witnessing a boom as the figure is the highest-ever so far compared to any season and we expect further increase in the footfall of tourists in the valley in coming months, J&K Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta told reporters after opening the seasonal Tulip Garden in Srinagar.
Four months from November 2021 to February this year, recorded arrival of 4,47,096 tourists in Kashmir compared to 2,19,442 in 2018 and 71,041 in 2019 when tourists were in beginning of August abruptly ordered to leave J&K before 5 August when restrictions were clamped due to abrogation of Article 370.
The Vaishnodevi shrine in Jammu is also witnessing record footfall of pilgrims during the ongoing Navratras.