British Airways ferries back its 266 stranded nationals

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 19

The British Airways on Sunday pressed in flight number BA9115C London Heathrow Airport (LHR)-Amritsar (ATQ)-LHR to ferry back its 266 nationals of Indian origin.

Earlier also, British Airways operated flights between London and Amritsar on April 13, 16, 17, 18 and 19 and is likely to operate more flights to repatriate citizens in the coming days.

The British, Canadian, Bhutanese and Malaysian governments operated many direct flights to repatriate their stranded nationals from Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport after the imposition of lockdown in India and other countries to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Harjap Singh Aujla and Yogesh Kamra of the Fly Amritsar Initiative (FAI) said the FAI and the Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) have been seeking direct flights from the holy city to London and Vancouver for the past many years.

They said: “Operating flights via Delhi will require employing two planes because it is a long route and an airline has to spend about Rs5lakh extra in flying to the national capital. Otherwise, only one plane is needed for direct flight. It takes nearly 7:30 hours to reach Amritsar from London and about 8:30 hours to reach London via Delhi. Besides, a direct flight will be helpful in exporting vegetables, flowers and fruits from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to London. Thus, Amritsar airport will earn Rs10 crore annually with this rerouted flight.”

They said the High Commissions of these countries were well aware of this fact. They demanded that direct flights be introduced from Amritsar to UK and Canada after the lifting of lockdown and revival of regular operations.

Contact respective High Commission

• Stranded citizens who wish to board these flights are required to visit the official website of the respective High Commission and register themselves on the official link. Their confirmation on flight costs, ticket issue and others will be carried out at the commission itself.
• No travel agency or online travel portal or any other platform can sell these tickets directly to anyone.
• Canadian government has arranged eight chartered flights by hiring the service of Air India, which operated these flights with a halt at Delhi.
• Malindo, Malaysia-based air carrier, also operated a special flight for stranded Malaysian citizens on March 30.
• Druk Air, national airline of Bhutan, repatriated Bhutanese citizens who were studying in universities in the region on April 13.