my note: Jet Airways just shutdown Amritsar-London Route (info here: http://www.amritsarovar.com/blog/2008/10/28/jet-airways-drops-amritsar-london-route/ )


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Amritsar politicians seek continuation of flights from Raja Sansi airport

MPs, Ministers, MLAs of Majha region led by Member Parliament Mr. Ratan Singh Ajnala and Information & Public Relations Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia today called on Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal requesting him  that he should write to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh,  Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr.Praful Patel and Union Commerce Minister, Mr.Kamal Nath to take immediate steps to ensure that ongoing international as well as domestic flights to Raja Sansi Airport, Amritsar were not discontinued and expansion work of Amritsar Airport be completed at the earliest.

In a joint representation handed over to Chief Minister’s official resident, they pleaded that Union Civil Aviation Ministry should immediately lower the landing charges for flights in Amritsar and it should be lower than Delhi Airport.  They said that the basic purpose of starting international flights from Amritsar was to decongest Delhi Airport as 29% international air traffic at Delhi was from Punjab. They said that presently Union Civil Aviation Ministry was charging Rs.1.54 lac landing charges per flight in Amritsar from Singapore Airlines as compared to Rs.75,000 charges by Delhi Airport.  Similarly Jet Airways was shelling Rs.94,000 as compared to Rs.69,000 paid by them in Delhi.  They said that nearly double the landing charges in Amritsar are making flights from this airport unviable for the airlines.  They requested that the Ministry should immediately lower the landing charges and make it lower than Delhi Airport so that Delhi Airport could be decongested besides helping the NRI population of Punjab.

The legislators explained that the discontinuation of flights from Amritsar would hurt the business besides causing inconvenience to the pilgrims coming to Sri Darbar Sahib and Mata Vaishno Devi.  They said that discontinuation of these two flights would cause inconvenience to thousands of passengers every month.
The Legislators also brought to the notice of Chief Minister that Rs.140 crores expansion work of Raja Sansi Airport was to be completed by 31st October, 2008 but till date not even 40% work has been completed causing inconvenience to passengers coming to airport. This was also resulted in drop of traffic in Amrtisar Airport. They  requested the Chief Minister to write to Union Minister to get the work of airport completed at an early date.

Majha legislators also pointed out to Chief Minister that he should write a separate letter to Mr. Kamal Nath, Union Commerce Minister to direct his Ministry to issue requisite notifications so that duty drawback claims for cargo booked from Raja Sansi Airport were cleared within 7 days as being done in Delhi Airport. They said that presently duty drawback claims from Amritsar Airport were cleared in 3-4 months and businessmen were not opting this airport as they don’t want to block their money for a longer period.
The Chief Minister assured the delegation that he would take up these issued with Prime Minister for their early solution.  He said that he would be speaking to both the Ministers to ensure that no international flight was discontinued from Amritsar Airport.

Those who called on Chief Minister included Member Parliament, S.Rattan Singh Ajnala,  Ministers including S. Bikram Singh Majithia,  S.Sucha Singh Langah, S.Gulzar Singh Ranike and MLAs Dr.Dalbir Singh Verka, S.Malkiat Singh AR, S.Amarpal Singh Ajnala,  S.Inderbir Singh Bularia, S.Manjit Singh Mianwind, S.Virsa Singh Valtoha, S.Harmeet Singh Sandhu MLA, Anil Joshi, Lakhbir Singh Lodhi Nangal MLA, Gurbachan Singh Babehali MLA, S.Vir Singh Lopoke (Ex-MLA) and Rajinder Mohan Singh Chinna General Secretary BJP.


November 3rd, 2008
ref: http://www.punjabnewspaper.com/wordpress/2008/11/03/amritsar-politicians-seek-continuation-of-flights-from-raja-sansi-airport/