(Samaj Weekly)- The FlyAmritsar Initiative has welcomed the resumption of direct daily flights between Amritsar and Doha by one of the World’s largest airline Qatar Airways. With the resumption of international flights by India, and scrapping of air bubble agreements by India from March 27, the airline has resumed its service from Amritsar from April 1 onwards. The airline was operating 3-weekly flights under air bubble agreements, but all of a sudden, the flights were suspended since Dec 18 of last year.
The Global Convener of FlyAmritsar Initiative and Secretary Overseas Affairs for Amritsar Vikas Manch, Sameep Singh Gumtala said that the large network of the airline around the World including Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, Africa would enable the Punjabi diaspora residing in these countries to travel conveniently to & from Amritsar. Before suspension, Qatar airways has been serving Amritsar for more than 12 years now with airline providing shorter connection timings in Doha to connect with the World as compared to flights via Delhi.
Gumtala further added, “Passengers prefer to fly direct from Amritsar to international destinations via Doha due to many factors including the convenience of getting immigration, luggage drop-off/pick-up, customs etc. all being done at Amritsar. The gradual addition and resumption of several international flights as the World reopens for international travel and tourism, will give a much-required boost to the economy and tourism industry of Amritsar and Punjab.”
The bilateral agreements between India and Qatar limits the airline to operate a maximum of only 7 flights/1239 seats per week to and from Amritsar whereas they currently operate 14 flights per week to/from Delhi with bigger aircrafts of more than 300 seats. Due to this, it is very hard for the diaspora to find availability on these flights, said Gumtala.
Gumtala appealed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and its Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia that, if Indian airline carriers are not willing to operate direct flights from Amritsar to more international destinations, instead of limiting flights for foreign airlines, the government should allow them to operate directly to Amritsar. This will provide direct international air connectivity to Punjabis from Amritsar, instead of facing the inconvenience of traveling from Delhi. This will help decongest Delhi airport. Moreover, it will generate more revenue for the airport running under Airport Authority of India.
Qatar connects Amritsar via Doha with just a short layover of 2-4 hours to 14 destinations in USA & Canada including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal in North America. It further connects passengers to other destinations in North America on its codeshare partner flights with American, Air Canada and Alaska airline. In Europe, some of its major destinations includes Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, London and Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane in Australia.
