‘Allow carriers from Dubai to fly to Asr’

Amritsar, November 10 2017:- The Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), an NGO working for the betterment of the city in general and increased air connectivity with other international destinations in particular, has appealed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to allow carriers from the UAE, Oman, Turkey and other countries to fly to Amritsar.

The request follows correspondence between the AVM and Fly Dubai, an international airlines. AVM patron Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala said, "Fly Dubai is willing to launch flights to Amritsar if the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, allows Amritsar to be added as a point of call for the carriers from Dubai.” He said the AVM’s oversees secretary Sameep Singh had made a written request to the airlines in this regard.

Gumtala said according to the airlines, Amritsar is a very important and key market that they would like to serve. However, the city is not a designated point of call in the bilateral air services agreement between Dubai and India. The agreement does not allow carriers from Dubai to fly to Amritsar. Furthermore, the capacity between India and Dubai stands exhausted and the bilateral discussions need to be conducted once again.

At present, carriers from the UAE -- Emirates, FlyDubai, Etihad can’t operate flights to Amritsar, whereas Indian carriers can fly to these cities.

Gumtala said starting of flights will not only take flyers to Dubai, Muscat or Istanbul, but it would also connect them further to Europe, the US and Canada, which have a large Punjabi population. Such connectivity is missing in the current flights operating on the Amritsar-Dubai route by Air India Express and SpiceJet.