The Ministry of Civil Aviation declared the Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport (also known as the Srinagar International airport) as a “Major Airport” on Saturday.
The Gazette notification issued by the ministry on Saturday read, “In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-Section (i) of Section 2 of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008 (No.27 of 2008), the Central Government hereby declares the airport at Srinagar as Major Airport.”
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated international flight operations at Srinagar airport on October 23. He inaugurated the first direct international flight between Srinagar and Sharjah and United Arab Emirates (UAE) there.
Although designated an international airport in 2005, the Srinagar Airport has not received any scheduled international flights but has only seen Hajj flights till now.