An intense winter storm swept across Jammu & Kashmir on 23 January, dumping more than 30 cm of snow on Srinagar and unleashing winds clocked at 155 km/h in higher reaches. Airport authorities suspended all arrivals and departures from Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport for most of Friday, while airlines such as IndiGo and Vistara issued travel waivers allowing free rescheduling or refunds.
The shutdown could not have come at a worse time for corporate travellers heading to the union territory’s fast-growing tech and renewable-energy projects. January is peak site-inspection season for many multinationals finalising capital expenditure decisions before the new fiscal year. Hoteliers in Srinagar estimate that over 1,500 room-nights were cancelled in 24 hours, a blow to an industry still clawing back from pandemic losses.
![Snowstorm Shuts Srinagar Airport, Disrupts Business Travel Across North India]()
Beyond aviation, the storm blocked the Jammu–Srinagar national highway at multiple points, isolating the Kashmir valley. Power lines collapsed under heavy snow, schools closed, and the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage was temporarily halted—adding religious-tourism losses to the economic tally. In Delhi and Mumbai, travel-risk teams scrambled to reroute executives through Jammu or Chandigarh, only to find onward road transfers equally dicey.
For travelers grappling with sudden itinerary changes, VisaHQ’s platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can ease at least one headache: paperwork. The service lets you obtain, extend, or upgrade Indian visas entirely online and on short notice, ensuring teams can focus on rebooking flights and arranging safe ground transport rather than standing in consulate queues during the storm.
Meteorologists predict intermittent snowfall through the weekend, meaning further cancellations are likely. Firms with critical movement to Srinagar are advised to invoke remote-work protocols or delay travel until at least 26 January, when runway clearing is expected to finish. As climate data show an uptick in extreme winter events across the western Himalayas, mobility planners may need to build wider weather cushions into their 2026 travel budgets.
The shutdown could not have come at a worse time for corporate travellers heading to the union territory’s fast-growing tech and renewable-energy projects. January is peak site-inspection season for many multinationals finalising capital expenditure decisions before the new fiscal year. Hoteliers in Srinagar estimate that over 1,500 room-nights were cancelled in 24 hours, a blow to an industry still clawing back from pandemic losses.
Beyond aviation, the storm blocked the Jammu–Srinagar national highway at multiple points, isolating the Kashmir valley. Power lines collapsed under heavy snow, schools closed, and the Vaishno Devi pilgrimage was temporarily halted—adding religious-tourism losses to the economic tally. In Delhi and Mumbai, travel-risk teams scrambled to reroute executives through Jammu or Chandigarh, only to find onward road transfers equally dicey.
For travelers grappling with sudden itinerary changes, VisaHQ’s platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can ease at least one headache: paperwork. The service lets you obtain, extend, or upgrade Indian visas entirely online and on short notice, ensuring teams can focus on rebooking flights and arranging safe ground transport rather than standing in consulate queues during the storm.
Meteorologists predict intermittent snowfall through the weekend, meaning further cancellations are likely. Firms with critical movement to Srinagar are advised to invoke remote-work protocols or delay travel until at least 26 January, when runway clearing is expected to finish. As climate data show an uptick in extreme winter events across the western Himalayas, mobility planners may need to build wider weather cushions into their 2026 travel budgets.
