Domestic connectivity from airport likely to be hit from next month

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 10

Domestic connectivity from the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee international Airport is likely to be hit from the next month as the DGCA regulators have directed SpiceJet to refund advanced booking amounts to passengers.

SpiceJet's fiscal troubles and the DGCA regulations are likely to upset winter travel plans of tourists and pilgrims.

Air India, Jet Airways and budget airline SpiceJet are three major domestic carriers from the local airport.

SpiceJet has connected the holy city to prominent business and tourist circuits like Mumbai, Srinagar, Bengaluru and Delhi. It is currently offering four daily flights, including, Amritsar-Delhi-Mumbai and Bengaluru, Amritsar-Delhi, Amritsar-Mumbai and Amritsar-Srinagar. Return flights from these destinations to the holy city are also available.

Former chairman, CII, Punjab, Gunbir Singh, said the airline offered convenient connecting flights to passengers to various destinations in the country and abroad via Delhi. Jet Airways and Air India are the only other carriers operating from the city.

The airline has already cancelled 1,876 flights scheduled for December this year and has been instructed to refund money to its passengers.

It is also regrettable that handsome discounts that were offered by the airlines for travel during the holiday season will not be available to travellers and they would have to re-arrange their journeys.

He added that these passengers would have to shell out more to meet enhanced tariffs by other airlines.

However, Officiating Airport Director Gagan Mallik said there was no disruption of schedule of any flight of SpiceJet this month while nothing could be predicted for the future.