TNR
Amritsar to London’s Heathrow Airport Non-stop flight,
Newly-inducted Airbus A330-200 aircraft

• NRI Punjabis would be directly linked to their hometown of Punjab

JET AIRWAYS LAUNCHES THRICE-A-WEEK SERVICE

Amritsar gets direct air link with London

Amritsar, August 04, 2006
Dharmendra Rataul
Express India

AMRITSAR today got a direct air link with London as Jet Airways’ first Amritsar-London flight took off from the Rajasansi Airport here. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who flagged off the non-stop flight to London’s Heathrow Airport, talked about medical and religious tourism and appreciated that the NRIs would be directly linked to their hometown and the Golden Temple by the thrice-a-week service.

The flight of the newly-inducted Airbus A330-200 aircraft would operate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, said Jet Airways Chief Operating Officer (COO) Dale Moss who added that they had met a long-pending demand of the NRI population for a direct London-Amritsar link. The CM who hoped that the flight would soon be a daily service added that the step would be a leap forward in the promotion of the tourism industry. ‘‘More airlines are keen to start international operations,’’ he added.

When asked about the lack of infrastructural facilities at the airport, the CM said the expansion and upgradation work was on and the airport was being developed on international standards. ‘‘It takes time to develop the infrastructure,’’ he snapped back when his attention was drawn to cracks appearing in newly-constructed buildings. He put the blame on the Airport Authority of India for the slow work and said they would provide funds and land to AAI if asked for. ‘‘The state is all prepared to help the AAI to develop the airport,’’ he said.

The flight, designated as 9W-124, will take off from here at 14:25 hrs and reach London at 19:05 hrs local time on the three days and the return flight number 9W-123 will leave Heathrow at 22:35 local time and land here at 11:35 hrs, said Jet officials.

The airline already operates two flights — from Mumbai and Delhi — to London. The flight, having a capacity of 226 passengers, would have fares ranging from Rs 17,000 to Rs 25,000 (taxes extra) till August 15 and will offer Punjabi music, Punjabi movies and Punjabi cuisine on board, said Jet officials.

The CM said earlier that the Centre had already approved the project for setting up of a green-field airport at Halwara near Ludhiana instead of Ladowal where the Punjab government was interested. The AAI would soon undertake the construction work of the new airport at Halwara, he said. He also reiterated the development of tourism circuits for the promotion of tourism as Moss announced to start an international flight from Chandigarh shortly and even a Chandigarh-Amritsar domestic flight in the near future.

Replying to other queries, the CM said that he had already taken up the issue of increase in the MSP of paddy and said that the revised hike of Rs 10 per quintal was inadequate for the farmers who were already under distress. ‘‘The cost of agricultural inputs has risen by 122 per cent and the MSP is stagnant at 57 per cent,’’ he said. On the Punjab bandh by Balmikis, he said they were examining the possibility of filing an SLP in the Supreme Court against the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had set aside the instructions of the Punjab government regarding reservation for Mazhbi Sikhs and Balmikis in the state.