DGCA orders 500 stranded school kids to be flown from Leh to Delhi free of cost

NEW DELHI: The bad weather in Jammu and Kashmir has left 500 schoolchildren from north India stranded in Ladakh, where they had gone for tracking. The children were finally rescued and brought to Leh on Wednesday and now airlines have been asked to fly them to Delhi free of charge on Thursday morning.

"Air India will bring about 300 children. The rest will be brought on special flights by Jet Airways and GoAir. These special ferry flights will be operated on Thursday morning. Airlines have been asked not to charge the students," said a senior directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) official. About half of the 500 rescued children are from Rajasthan while the rest are from other north Indian states, including Delhi.

Now authorities are hoping that Leh has good weather on Thursday so that these special flights can be operated. Last week saw three days when no flights could be operated to Leh's high altitude airport, leaving scores of passengers stranded. Last Friday when flights were able to operate after three days, there was a scramble among stranded passengers to get on them.

While Srinagar and Jammu have not been aerially cut off even as they battle unprecedented flooding, Leh's problem is different due to which flights there got affected so badly. High altitude, hostile terrain and low clouds mean that a pilot cannot position himself to land by getting a visual contact of the runway. Also, after 11 am Leh has very strong tailwinds. So the window of operations - even in good weather - is limited till about noon.

DGCA has asked GoAir to fly out of Leh by 7 am on Thursday with the children, while the Jet flight is supposed to take off at noon. In between, AI flights will be pressed into service.

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