Holy link: AI’S Amritsar to Patna direct flight takes off
THE FLIGHT, WHICH WILL BE OPERATIONAL ON THREE DAYS A WEEK— SUNDAY, TUESDAY AND FRIDAY—WILL CONNECT THE AKAL TAKHT IN AMRITSAR TO TAKHT PATNA SAHIB
AMRITSAR: Marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, launched a direct flight between Amritsar and Patna from October 27.
The flight, which will be operational on three days a week— Sunday, Tuesday and Friday— will connect Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in Amritsar with Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna, benefiting a large number of Sikh devotees who will be able to travel to Takht Patna Sahib in just two hours.
The flight AI-726 will leave Amritsar at 2:55 pm on every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday and reach Patna at 5:05pm while flight AI-725 will leave Patna at 10:55am on same days and reach Amritsar at 1:05pm. The duration will be 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The 162-seater A320 neo aircraft, however, had flown with its full capacity on the inaugural Diwali day.
Member of Parliament (MP) from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who visited the airport, said, “Direct Amritsar-patna flight was a long-pending demand of the Sikh community to connect the Akal Takht in Amritsar to Takht Sri Patna Sahib. I thank civil aviation minister Hardeep
Singh Puri and Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for this gift.”
He said the flight will also benefit foreign tourists as they can pay obeisance at both the holy shrines in much less time. Besides, the flight will help boost tourism and trade between both the cities.
The price of the ticket on the first day varied between ₹1,300 and ₹7,000.
Prices, however, are expected to rise in coming days, so I will request central government to fix the ticket rates to less than ₹10,000, said Aujla.
“In 2017, Air India had launched a direct flight between Amritsar and Sikh pilgrimage destination of Nanded in Maharashtra and it was a huge hit among devotees. I am sure that this flight (Amritsar-patna) will also get similar response,” Aujla added.