By Sameep Singh Gumtala, Published on November 25th, 2022 in News
In a major boost to the international and domestic connectivity from Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, there are going to be direct flights for 9 international and over 11 domestic destinations. The airport is picking up pace as we emerge out of the pandemic. The upcoming winter season is going to be one of the busiest for Amritsar, as over 9 airlines will be operating up to 30 daily flights from the airport.
The international connectivity is getting a big boost with Indian airline carrier Spicejet, starting scheduled flights to Rome and Milan Bergamo airport in Italy from the first week of November. The airline was earlier operating special charter flights to these destinations. Air India is also increasing its non-stop flights to Birmingham in the UK from present twice weekly to 3 times a week from November 16th onwards. The airline will continue to operate 3 times a week non-stop flights to London Heathrow from Amritsar.
With Qatar Airways also providing convenient connectivity from Canada, USA and Europe to Amritsar by daily flights through its hub in Doha, the Punjabi diaspora would benefit the most with more convenient travelling options. Punjabi’s traveling to the State from abroad, can also take advantage of the increased frequency of flights between Delhi-Amritsar by Air India. They now have 3 daily flights along with 4 daily flights by IndiGo and 2 daily flights by Vistara respectively. All this would help international transit passengers from in travelling conveniently to Amritsar. With the addition of a new 2:15pm flight from Delhi to Amritsar by Air India, passengers can now travel from Toronto to Amritsar in just 17 hours and return journey to Toronto in 19 hours via Delhi, Gumtala added.
The airport is also connected with daily flights to Dubai and 3-weekly flights to Sharjah in UAE by Air India Express. In addition, Spicejet and IndiGo are operating direct daily flights to Dubai and Sharjah respectively. All these 3 major Indian carriers are now operating 24 flights every week to the UAE from Amritsar. Singapore airlines low-cost carrier Scoot and Malaysia based Batik Air connects Amritsar with Australia and South-east Asian countries with 5-weekly flights to Singapore and 4-weekly to Kuala Lumpur.
On the domestic connectivity side, IndiGo is currently operating the highest number of flights from the airport including daily flights to Mumbai, Srinagar, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Goa, and thrice weekly flights to Lucknow. According to its website, the airline is adding new 3 times a week flight to Ahmedabad in December 2022, said Gumtala.
The FlyAmritsar Initiative has again urged the Punjab Government to promote Amritsar Airport by creating the necessary supportive infrastructure and connecting it with cities across Punjab as well as neighboring States through public transportation system, to help boost the traffic at the airport. There is an urgent need to export cargo out of Amritsar airport and they have also appealed to the government & Invest Punjab to give Amritsar Airport its due. The experiences learned with expansion of business here can be used in future for the development of other airports in the State.
On behalf of FlyAmritsar Initiative, we again make a fervent appeal to the Punjabi diaspora across the world in preferring flying to Amritsar either direct or via Delhi as the increase in passenger numbers will help sustain existing flights and help in making a solid business case for flights with other airlines. FlyAmritsar Initiative is working passionately with different airlines and airports to establish direct connectivity of Amritsar with major destinations around the globe. The increase in numbers will help this cause in the upcoming months.
About the Author:
Sameep Singh Gumtala, is Global Convener of FlyAmritsar Initiative, a public campaign for better flight connectivity with the Holy city of Amritsar. He is a US resident, regularly writes about Punjab, its diaspora and connectivity of Amritsar, Punjab with the World.
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November 25, 2022
Gurpreet Singh
Spicejet has taken Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Patna flights off from Amritsar. Totally unfair!