Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said today that Amritsar and Chandigarh have a combined 42 air traffic movements per week internationally, as part of an expansion plan for Indian carriers. Amritsar has 33 and Chandigarh has nine.
Scindia denied that there was little international air connectivity with Amritsar and Chandigarh, saying: “Under open sky policy, we only provide connectivity to six metros.”
Only two destinations in the UAE have international air connectivity from Chandigarh – Dubai and Sharjah. A large number of passengers from the UT, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal take international flights from Delhi, despite repeated requests for more flights. Malaysia, the UK, the UAE, Singapore, Georgia, Qatar, and Italy are seven countries with air connections to Amritsar.
Rahul Bhandari, Punjab’s Principal Secretary (Civil Aviation), said the state had regularly requested more international flights from Chandigarh and Amritsar to the Centre.
Since these two cities are not included in the ‘open sky policy’, international airlines cannot begin flights from here. In the future, we intend to start direct flights to Canada and other European destinations,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian carriers cannot operate flights from these two cities due to lack of commercial viability. Despite this, the issue is being discussed repeatedly and we are confident that flights will begin soon,” he said.
More than 65% of passengers at Delhi’s airport come from the city, according to tricity-based travel operators. “If one European destination, such as Germany, is connected from here, it will open the market up to the US, Canada, and other countries.”, said Sumit Gandhi of Sai Tours and Travel in Mohali. For a long time, Punjabi travel operators have been demanding this.”
Sheetal Travels’ Vaneet Sharma said that Chandigarh is accessible to many North Indians. There are only two international destinations served by international flights. It will be more convenient for passengers from the region to fly from here rather than Delhi.”
