Amritsarbirmingham direct flight flagged off
RESUMED The Air India flight will operate twiceaweek on Tuesdays and Thursdays
AMRITSAR : Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment and president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Vijay Sampla flagged off the direct AmritsarBirmingham flight after a cake-cutting ceremony at the Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here on Tuesday.
The Air India’s non-stop flight between Amritsar and Birmingham will operate twicea-week on Tuesdays and Thursdays and return from Birmingham on Wednesdays and Fridays.sampla was accompanied by member of the Rajya Sabha Shwait Malik and Congress member of Parliament (MP) Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
Malik said the flight will take off from the city at 13:55 (IST) and land at the Birmingham airport at 17:15 (BST) and will depart from the Birmingham airport at 18:45 (BST) and land at the airport here at 07:45 (IST).
Malik said the flight was discontinued during the Congressled UPA government in 2010 and he tried for its revival for two years. The flight was announced by civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha in November 2016.
He said the revival of the flight will not only be a relief for the Punjabis living in the United Kingdom, but also for the people of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh whose agro products can now reach the UK directly. Malik said during the flagging off ceremony, Pankaj Srivastava, director, commercial, Air India Limited, promised to review the success of the flight and make it a daily affair. He said he also demanded new direct flights to Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand to facilitate the Punjabi community living there.
Deputy commissioner Kamaldeep Singh Sangha, BJP’S former minister Dr Baldev Raj Chawla, district president Rajesh Honey, Gurpartap Singh Tikka, Rajinder Mohan Chhina, Bakshi Ram Arora were also present on the occasion.