International flights expected to resume

Amritsar, July 17

With Pakistan opening its air space for civilian traffic, two international airlines, which halted their operations, are expected to re-start their flights from Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport.

Two international flights were cancelled and five were re-routed after Pakistan banned its airspace for India since the Balakot air strike on February 26.

Professionals associated with the aviation and hospitality industries believe that more tourists will arrive.

Consequently, Air India’s Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham and Turkmenistan’s Amritsar-Ashgabat-Birmingham flights were stopped. Their termination is causing an inconvenience to passengers, majority of them NRIs and their relatives.

Charanjit Singh Gumtala, a local resident, said these flights made short the distance between the holy city and London besides easy connectivity with Canada and the USA. “My son is settled in the US, so his family has to frequently travel between the two countries,” he added.

Uzbekistan’s Amritsar-Tashkent and Qatar’s Amritsar-Doha flights are being flown via Mumbai instead of the shorter route via Lahore.

Similarly, all three flights to Dubai, being operated by SpiceJet, Indigo and Air India, are taking longer route to avoid Pakistan airspace as they fly over Arabian sea via Mumbai.

Airport Authority of India officials at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport said that following lifting of airspace ban by the Pakistan Government, airlines will rework their flying arrangement and reciprocate accordingly. — TNS