By the time this article is published, the first ever direct international commercial flight from the upgraded Srinagar International Airport would have taken off for Dubai. Notwithstanding the controversy about the nomenclature of the Airport, it is now an International Airport. We seem always to be stuck in names and lose the substance. As Shakespeare said, “A rose is a rose by whatever name you call it!” Srinagar name which is 2,000 years old, is in itself universal and globally known because of being the capital of Kashmir, probably the most talked about place on the Earth at the moment. Take off by an International flight from Srinagar is a historical occasion. So far only chartered Hajj flights had been operating from this airport to Jeddah for last three years or so. The demand for starting international flights from Srinagar had been pending for last 35 years. It was in 1975 that the proposal for converting Srinagar Airport into an International Airport was mooted. It has taken decades for the proposal to finally materialise. While celebrating the occasion we must not forget that this is only the beginning and not an end in itself. This is more so because of a tradition in our part of the world of starting a new venture with a lot of fanfare and then after sometime forgetting it altogether. The venture then remains symbolic and fades away with time.

The present start of the flight also smacks of a similar attitude. Normally, one would have expected lot of ground work both in Kashmir and Dubai before the formal inauguration of the flight. It is reported that just a couple of days before the flight only 20 seats have been booked. It seems to be more a political gesture than a real commercial venture! Moreover, the service introduced, the Air India Express is the one which had been started for the use of the labour class with all economy configuration. People in authority need to realise that this flight is an opening to a vast field of trade, commerce, tourism, and above all an end to the centuries old isolation of Kashmir from the rest of the world. There may be some teething troubles in the beginning but with a positive and constructive attitude of the concerned authorities these can be easily overcome. Firstly, the flight is not going to any other part of the country but to a foreign land. The first mandatory requirement is the visa. It is these days possible to get online visas from a number of countries. Dubai also has online visa facilities which can be obtained by travel agents in collaboration with local hotels in Dubai.

It is not known what arrangements for grant of visitor visa have been made by the Airlines? Because of an introductory promotional return fare offer of around Rs.13,500 it may be cheaper to fly to Dubai than to Mumbai, and Delhi. The most interesting proposition for new travellers from Kashmir would be an all inclusive week long package-tour to Dubai. This can be easily worked out by the Air India office in Dubai with local travel agents there and then marketed in Kashmir by its own office or General Sales Agents which may have to be appointed among local travel agents in Srinagar. To make the trip attractive and popular among Kashmiris, it may be worthwhile to connect Dubai with Jeddah so that Umra is included in it. There could be packages for Umra only. There are a number of local travel agencies in Kashmir which are at present conducting Umra and even annual Hajj pilgrimage. These could easily make use of the flight by re-routing from the earlier routing of Srinagar-Delhi-Jeddah-Delhi-Srinagar to Srinagar-Dubai-Jeddah-Dubai-Srinagar route. In fact, even the foreign tour operators bringing groups to Kashmir from Europe and other places could try this routing for direct access to Kashmir. Entire Middle East has a large population of western expatriates working in different construction companies, institutions, government offices, oil companies, and so on. According to an estimate there are about 20 million western expatriates working in the Middle Eastern Region from Egypt to Oman. All these people get their holidays in July-August, the hottest months there.

This is the best season in Kashmir for foreigners but an off peak season for domestic tourists. Most of these foreigners instead of visiting their home countries, travel to different tourist destinations in South East Asia like Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore etc. Some even go to Kerala to see monsoon rains. Kashmir for them would be a short haul destination and much cheaper and easier to go than from their home countries. A large number of these foreigners are keen to visit the adventure packed land of Ladakh. At present they do it through direct flights from Delhi to Leh where three airlines operate daily flights especially in summer. There is only a single flight per week between Srinagar and Leh. In the past the Indian Airlines had been operating 3 to 4 flights per week. If the frequency of Srinagar-Leh flights is increased at least to three per week, it will be possible to connect the Dubai flight with these with a night stop over in Srinagar either way. This will not only increase traffic to Ladakh but will also give some boost to Kashmir Tourism. Apart from this there are extensive possibilities of promoting special interest tourism. This includes both the adventure travel like mountaineering, trekking, skiing, rafting, and soft recreational tourism like Golf, Angling etc. Dubai has a number of world class Golf courses and some prestigious tournaments such as the Desert Classic with prize money of 2 million dollars is held there every year.

Tiger Woods, the world’s number one player is always present in the said championship. Dubai itself has a number of top Golfing associations and in some the membership is more than 5,000. Kashmir’s Royal Spring Course in Srinagar designed by the famous architect Robert Trent Jones Junior II is among the top ten in the world. The Course which cost more than 8 million dollars to build has been visited by many players from Dubai. There are two more courses being re-laid as per international standards. These are at Gulmarg and Pahalgam. Thus we have the possibility of attracting Golfers from Dubai for a week long Golfing holiday. They can spend two days each at the out stations and three days in Srinagar. Once the frequency of flights increases, people can fly in for a week-end of Golf. In addition, there are numerous possibilities of exporting cargo especially handicrafts, fruit, exotic vegetables, flowers, and trout fish. As mentioned earlier we have a tendency to forget everything after a grand inauguration. As such it is very important for the State Government to set up a multi-disciplinary Task Force preferably under the chairmanship of the State’s Chief Executive to work out details for utilizing this new opening in Kashmir to the optimum level.

Some representatives of the private sector could also be included in such a high powered grouping. The Task Force will not only take measures for streamlining the operation of Dubai flight but would also be able to suggest operation of flights to other possible destinations in the Middle East, South East Asia and probably to Central Asia. They could also examine the feasibility of starting chartered flights to Srinagar from all these short haul markets. Commencement of all these activities holds immense possibilities of employment in various sectors utilizing these flights. As stated by a fellow journalist in one of the stories on the subject, the Kashmir’s International Connection could be a better Confidence Building Measure than even the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus! Let us hope, this CBM evolves into a real opening for Kashmir in all possible ways and does not get frozen in time like the Muzaffarabad Bus? Past experience makes one apprehensive that the venture may end like that unless the Chief Executive takes personal interest in it!