Punjab for early take-off of international flights

CHANDIGARH, NOV 24: The Punjab Government has urged the Centre to commence early international flights from Raja Sansi Airport at Amritsar ...

CHANDIGARH, NOV 24: The Punjab Government has urged the Centre to commence early international flights from Raja Sansi Airport at Amritsar to London and the Gulf countries in the Middle East.

The move, which is under consideration by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, has been initiated since the proposed expansion of the airport to international standards would anything between 18 months to two years. According to Prinicipal-Secretary-in-charge of Civil Aviation Y S Ratra, the State Government has approached the Centre because the existing infrastructure was adequate to operate small-bodied jets.

The immediate start of flights, though on a limited scale, is expected not only to benefit the ruling party in the state and the Prime Minister I K Gujral politically but also popularise Amritsar as destination for incoming and outgoing non-resident Punjabis and others by the time it acquires a full-fledged international airport status.

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When the proposed extension of the 9,000 feet runway to 12,000 feet takes place and the terminal building is also suitably expanded to handle higher number of passengers, the airport would be able to accommodate the Boeing 744 aircraft and wide-bodied jets such as the Airbus 300 and Airbus 320.

The Punjab Government has already acquired 138 acres of land near the existing airport and transferred it free of cost to the International Airport Authority of India (IAAI) which is to undertake the construction and operate the airport. The airport is being upgraded at the initiative of Prime Minister I K Gujral in view of the large number of Punjabis going abroad, particularly those migrating for better employment and business opportunities available in the Gulf, Europe and North America.

Of the Rs 105-cr sanctioned by the Planning Commission for the project, Rs 70 crore have already been released to the Civil Aviation Ministry to start the project, Ratra revealed today.

Meanwhile, the Amritsar-London flight is favoured since it would also provide a good link for those who are on their way to the United States of America, Canada and European countries. Before the onset of terrorism in Punjab, the airport at Amritsar used to have two weekly international flights, one by Air India for Birmingham in United Kingdom and the second by Afghan Airlines for Kabul in Afghanistan. However, neither the air carriers nor the passengers were happy about those flights and these were stopped at the earlies opportunity.

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Now London supplants Birmingham in UK as the priority destination, since the carriers are not keen on the latter route. Not many passengers travel to Birmingham directly. Moreover, not being a big international airport it is not well connected by air with major cities of the world and those wishing to fly out of UK prefer London’s Heathrow airport.