Civilian flights to Kargil by year-end: Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik

Kargil: The Kargil airport will be expanded to include a full-fledged facility for commercial flight operations by the end of this year, Jammu & Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik told TOI on Saturday.

Tenders for the Rs 200-crore project will be floated soon. The plan was sanctioned by Malik a month ago.

Heavy shelling by Pakistan during the 1999 Kargil conflict had damaged the airstrip extensively, which prompted the Centre to draw up a plan of an airport at this LoC town.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) team visited Kargil on June 20 to conduct a pre-feasibility study of the project.

The AAI report said: “The existing runway has a stretch of 6,000 feet in north-to-south direction. There is scope of extending it for a further 5,000 feet. That would make it suitable for commercial jets.” (ToI)