Residents demand introduction of more direct international flights from Amritsar
CLAIM THE POTENTIAL OF THE REGION’S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT NOT BEING FULLY UTILISED
28 Dec 2015 Hindustan Times (Chandigarh)HT Correspondent letterschd@hindustantimes.com
AMRITSAR: Some prominent residents of the holy city joined hands on Sunday to demand the introduction of more direct international flights from the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here.
“The airport has huge potential for direct international flights to the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and various other countries due to religious and historical importance of the holy city. More than 5 million Sikhs and Punjabis are living in these countries and they will always prefer Amritsar for their inward and outward journey than any other destination in India,” said Hardeep Singh Chahal, general secretary of the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), while addressing a seminar here on Sunday. The seminar was organised by the manch to discuss ways and means for the development of the airport as well as the hurdles that have come in its way due to which the full potential of the airport could not be exploited.
Addressing the participants, AVM patron Charanjit Singh Gumtala regretted that ever since the Amritsar airport acquired international status, attempts had been made to downgrade its status and importance. Instead of international flights operating directly to and from Amritsar, passengers are being routed via New Delhi, which is time consuming, he said, while pointing out that the airport had very good facilities. He said nearly 45% passengers at the New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport are Punjabis or from the state of Punjab. Some persons with vested interests were creating hurdles in the development of the Amritsar airport as they feared that loss of Punjabi passengers would affect the operations of the airport in Delhi, he said, while pointing out that just 10 flights, counting both domestic and international flights, operate from Amritsar.
Gumtala regretted that no politician or political party from Punjab was concerned about the development and progress of the Amritsar airport. He demanded that every political party, while framing their manifesto for the next Assembly polls, must make a commitment to the people of Punjab about their party’s stand towards the progress and development of the airport.
Speakers pointed out that a number of airlines such as Turkish Airlines and Fly Jet of Bulgaria had also shown interest in beginning direct international flights from Amritsar. They demanded that both these air carriers should be given permission to start direct flights from here.
A speaker claimed that Qatar Airlines was also willing to operate a bigger plane on Amritsar-Doha sector but the civil aviation ministry was not allowing more seats and flights on this route. The speaker revealed that FlyScoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, will start a Amritsar-Singapore flight in May next year and this would be a welcome step.
The manch also demanded the resumption of Amritsar-London-Toronto and Amritsar-Birmingham direct flights which were routed via Delhi in 2010. The Amritsar-London-Toronto flight was one of the most successful flights in the history of Air India. With an international airport coming up in Chandigarh, some speakers felt that politicians and bureaucrats would turn their attention to developing this new airport at the cost of the Amritsar airport. However, officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) did not agree and said the historical importance of the holy city could not be undermined and people from all over the globe came to Punjab for paying obeisance at the Golden Temple.
During the seminar, the Manch thanked V Venkateswara Rao, director of Amritsar airport for his sincere efforts in the introduction of Malindo Airways direct flight to Kuala Lumpur and SpiceJet direct flight from Amritsar to Dubai. Representatives of various airlines, including Air India and Uzbekistan Airways, also participated in the seminar.
