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Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport (VISR/SXR) serves Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, from a joint military-civil site at Budgam, about 12 km south of the city. Owned by the Indian Air Force with a civil enclave operated by the Airports Authority of India, it offers a single very long hard-surfaced runway equipped with an ILS, set against the dramatic backdrop of the Kashmir Valley at over 5,400 feet elevation.
Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport lies at Budgam, a short distance south of Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley, and combines an Indian Air Force base with a civil enclave run by the Airports Authority of India. For a simulator pilot it is notable both for its high-altitude Himalayan setting, with a field elevation above 5,400 feet, and for its single exceptionally long runway equipped with an instrument landing system, reflecting its origins and continuing role as a military airfield as well as a civil gateway.
The airfield sits in Budgam, roughly 12 km south of Srinagar city, within the Kashmir Valley of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is owned by the Indian Air Force, which operates the airfield alongside a civil enclave run by the Airports Authority of India, reflecting its dual military and civilian function.
The field has a single physical runway, 13/31, of hard surface construction and 12,041 feet in length. Runway 31 is equipped with an instrument landing system.
Radio contact is available on A/G 893.9 MHz, with a tower frequency of RDO TWR 127.9 MHz. The runway has been equipped with an ILS since February 2011, and night landing capability was tested in 2018, with commercial night flying operations beginning on 19 March 2021.
The airfield was established by the Indian Air Force and first proved its worth during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, when it was used, despite lacking landing aids, to airlift Indian army troops in a successful effort to prevent the capture of Srinagar by Pakistani forces. Through the 1950s to 1970s it developed into one of the Indian Air Force's forward attack bases, and on 7 September 1965, during the Indo-Pakistani War of that year, it was attacked by the Pakistan Air Force, damaging a Douglas C-47 Skytrain and an Indian Airlines Douglas DC-3, along with a United Nations observer aircraft. The base went on to host fighter squadrons and served as a launchpad for combat air patrols during the 1965 and 1971 wars. A civil enclave was established by the National Airports Authority of India in 1979, and the terminal was upgraded in February 1998 to handle international Hajj flights, which began operating in January 2002. During the Kargil War in 1999 civilian flights were suspended and the airport was taken over entirely by the Indian Air Force. In March 2005 it was granted international status, and in 2015 the Jammu and Kashmir government proposed renaming it Sheikh ul-Alam Airport after the Kashmiri Sufi saint Nund Rishi, although this was never made official. The runway was fitted with an ILS in February 2011, and night landing trials in 2018 led to the start of scheduled night flying operations on 19 March 2021.
The airport continues to function as a joint military and civil facility, with the Indian Air Force retaining ownership of the airfield and the Airports Authority of India operating the civil enclave and integrated domestic and international terminal. Scheduled airline services operate by day and, since 2021, by night, supported by the runway's instrument landing system.
