FLY POP airlines to start low-cost Amritsar-London flight

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 5

Chairman of FLY POP (People for Profit) airlines Navdip Singh Judge visited the Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport here today. The airlines had earlier announced to start a low-cost non-stop flight between Amritsar and London

Judge along with members of the Amritsar Vikas Manch met officials of the airport here today. Judge said FLY POP planned to start six flights on routes which were not served directly by any airlines.

He said flights between Amritsar-London and Ahmedabad-London would become operational in 2017. The flight for Amritsar would start from London at 7 pm and reach Amritsar by 6 am, so that devotees can attend morning prayers at Golden Temple.

He added the journey would cost around 350 pounds, including taxes, and half of the profit of the airline would be given to charities in the United Kingdom and India.

He said they were constantly in touch with the Airport Authority of India and hopefully all formalities would be completed soon. He stated that the Amritsar-London route would be served by Airbus A330-300 with a capacity of 378 passengers.

FLY POP was a crowd-funded project for which money had also been collected through sale of Gold Passes and other benefits for the passengers. The members of the Amritsar Vikas Manch, including Kulwant Singh Ankhi, said, “A direct flight between Amritsar and London would be highly beneficial for the NRIs and tourists coming here. Besides, it would also popularise the holy city on the international map.”

Ankhi said Judge had admitted that the Amritsar airport was on a par with prominent international airports as far as infrastructure was concerned. He said Amritsar being a holy city, it should be connected to more international destinations. Large numbers of Punjabi NRIs had to visit Delhi to take a flight. “If Amritsar is connected with international destinations, it would be better for the economy of the city as well as for the passengers,” he said.