Amritsar: A direct flight between Amritsar and Gatwick took off today. The non-stop flight between Amritsar and Gatwick airports will operate three days a week. Gatwick Airport is 29.5 miles south of Central London.
The non-stop flight between Amritsar and Gatwick will be operated by Air India as per the following schedule:
Inaugurating the flight, Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, Jyotiraditya Scindia said this new international connectivity will work as a catalyst for the development of the region. “It is an emotional subject also as lakhs of people of Punjab live in the UK [United Kingdom] and this new service will connect families living in two different countries,” he said.
The Minister said this is the third connectivity between Amritsar and England and there are six international flights which are operational from Amritsar. By 2014 Amritsar was connected to only 6 cities, which has now increased to 21 cities, a jump of 250 per cent. Earlier the weekly traffic movement in Amritsar was 217 per week which has now increased to 416 per week, an increase of 87 per cent.
Speaking on the infrastructure development at Amritsar Airport, the Minister said the government has developed 13 parking aprons with an expenditure of Rs 50 crores, at the cost of Rs 100 crores, a parallel taxi track has also been developed for easy movement of aircraft. A new integrated terminal has also been developed with an expenditure of Rs. 250 crores, he said.
Under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (RCS UDAN scheme), 20 routes have been operational in Punjab with a budget of Rs. 145.35 crores, and 4 more routes are planned to commence in the near future. The government has signed an open sky offer with Canada wherein airline operators can operate unlimited flights between Indian cities and their Canadian counterparts. Scindia said he was hopeful that Punjab and its people will benefit from this agreement.
– global bihari bureau
