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| August 6, 2010 | Amritsar Airport may lose international passengers | | Amritsar: A dream that intended Amritsar 's Raja Sansi International Airport to develop into one of the busiest Airports, today seems to have faded. After withdrawal
of Singapore Airlines and Jet Airways International services, there are reports
that Air India has also discontinued its certain services from Amritsar airport,
located about 11 kilometres from the city centre. Last February, after three years
of successful operations, Singapore Airlines already withdrew their services from
Amritsar while stating that it was not feasible for them to continue anymore.
In Novemeber, 2008, the Jet Airways cancelled flights connecting Delhi- Amritsar
to London for economic reasons. While there are unconfirmed reports that Air India
has announced to withdraw its Amritsar - London - Toronto flight services even
before the completion of its first anniversary, the officials, however, have said
that the flights are "only re-routed." ``The service is not withdrawn as is being
projected. We have only re-planned the route in view of the commercial aspects'',
said an Air India official. The Air India official informed that according to
the new route, the flight would be Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto and Amritsar-Delhi-London.
"So the flight has not been taken away rather another one had been added. As per
information, AI-187 would take off from Amritsar on October 31 to Toronto via
Delhi whereas AI-115 would take passengers from Amritsar to London via Delhi ."
Many people are raising scepticism over the utility of the parliamentary committee
headed by Manohar Singh Gill, which had been given different recommendations to
make Amritsar as an aviation hub for various destinations, as none of its recommendations
had been properly implemented. The Civil Aviation ministry had set up Gill Committee
to save the Raja Sansi Airport from closure by urging Center to initiate several
measures. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, an MP from Amritsar
, on Thursday claimed that he called on Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel
in New Delhi on Wednesday and the latter assured that the flight would not be
taken away. ``Minister has promised me that he will not take away the flight,''
said Siddhu. He added that rather Amritsar should be included in the list of Inbound
Tourist Chartered List. Earlier Sidhu had promised on number of times to the residents
here that he will ensure bringing the Amritsar airport at the international aviation
radar. However, the sources, have revealed that even the Amritsar-Sharjah and
Amritsar-Abhudhabi flights of Air India are likely to be removed. They are being
shifted to the upcoming Mohali Airport . Anil Suri, Managing Director Sawera Travels
feels that if there will be a drop in international air transport, there would
be a negative impact of that further cascading effect on the Amritsar market.
He said that even the re-route of the Air India would discourage international
passengers to take flight from Amritsar . They will rather prefer to take direct
flight from Delhi . Suneet Kochar, Deputy Chairman of Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), Amritsar , said: " Amritsar holds a huge potential in terms of
tourism industry and to facilitate International passengers the efforts should
be made to bring more international fights at Raja Sansi Airport . He hoped that
Dr. Manmohan Singh, who once said that he has a special place for Amritsar in
his heart, would look into the matter and provide the best to Amritsar. | |
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