Direct flight between Amritsar and UK’s Gatwick airport inaugurated

A non-stop Air India flight between Amritsar and Gatwick commenced on Monday with the new international connectivity promising to work as a catalyst for the development of the region.

Inaugurating the inaugural flight, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that it is an emotional subject also as lakhs of people of Punjab live in the UK and this new service will connect families living in two different countries.

This is the third connectivity between Amritsar and England with six international flights operational from Amritsar.

Scindia reminded that till 2014, Amritsar was connected to only six cities which has been increased to 21 cities, a jump of 250 per cent, in nine years of Modi government.

The government has also developed 13 parking aprons with an expenditure of Rs 50 crore at the cost of Rs 100 crore and a parallel taxi track for easy movement of aircraft at Amritsar airport. A new integrated terminal has also been developed with an expenditure of Rs 250 crore.

Earlier, the weekly traffic movement at the airport was 217 per week which has now increased to 416 per week, an increase of 87 per cent. Under the RCS UDAN scheme, with a budget of Rs 145.35 crore, 20 routes have been operational in Punjab and four 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.