Air India to US & Canada from Amritsar - confirmation report

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[FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL, Helvetica, Geneva][FONT=ARIAL,]Update on Air India at Amritsar - Expansion and more routes on the way

In an interview with The Tribue, Air India's Passenger Sales Manager (Mr Anil Sabharwal), confirmed the following expansion of the airline's flights from Amritsar:

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    [*]Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto to be upgraded to daily, from the current 5 weekly by year end
    [*]Amritsar-Dubai to be upgraded to 6 weekly from September
    [*]Amritsar-San Francisco flights by December 2007 / January 2008
    [*]Amritsar-Vancouver fights by December 2007 / January 2008
    [*]Amritsar-New York <acronym title="New York - John F. Kennedy International (Idlewild) (JFK / KJFK), USA - New York">JFK</acronym> flights (via <acronym title="Delhi - Indira Gandhi International (Palam) (DEL / VIDP), India">DEL</acronym> & <acronym title="London - Heathrow (LHR / EGLL), United Kingdom">LHR</acronym>) confirmed to begin on September 11th 2007
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Source: The Tribune

Explaining the reasons for this expansion at Amritsar, Mr Sabharwal commented:

"The Punjab market has tremendous scope. We are starting our new flights as we are now getting a brand new fleet of aircraft, including new generation Boeing 777 aircraft. The civil aviation sector has been recording unprecedented growth [in Punjab] which is safely above 35 per cent per annum. We are expanding our operations in the north irrespective of new international flights started by Jet Airways. Since the growth is phenomenal, there is enough for every carrier,"
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Airliners.net Civil Aviation: India Aviation Thread: Part 58
 

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Excerpts:

It will be introducing from September 11 a direct flight from Amritsar to New York via London besides seven days a week a flight from Delhi to London and New York, becoming the first international carrier to directly air-link Punjab with the United States. Jet Airways has already introduced the Delhi-Brussels-New York flight and will start the Toronto-Brussels-Delhi flight early next month.
To offset stiff competition offered by Jet Airways on both the European and North American sectors, Air India has decided to extend the “same fare and seamless transfer” facilities to passengers travelling from stations served earlier by national domestic carrier Indian. This facility is being introduced from select centres to start with, assert senior officials of Air India.
“We have fixed a target of generating an additional Rs 100 crore from the Punjab market this year,” says Rohita Jaidka, general manager, northern India, while announcing the launch of a new Amritsar-Delhi-London-New York flight from September 11 besides increasing the frequency of the Amritsar-Dubai flight from five to six days a week. After the merger of Indian, Air India has become the largest airline in Asia, she adds.
“The Punjab market has tremendous scope. We are starting our new flights as we are now getting a brand new fleet of aircraft, including new generation Boeing 777 aircraft. The civil aviation sector has been recording unprecedented growth which is safely above 35 per cent per annum,” reveals Anil Sabharwal, passenger sales manager of the airline.
“We are expanding our operations in the north irrespective of new international flights started by Jet Airways. Since the growth is phenomenal, there is enough for every carrier,” adds Sabharwal.
Air India becomes the second Indian carrier after Jet Airways to start a direct flight from Amritsar to London and the first to link the holy city with New York.
The top brass of Air India will now be camping in the region for the next few days before the launch of the new flights from Amritsar.
“We have on our plans a flight from Srinagar to Dubai besides connecting Amritsar to both San Francisco and Vancouver by the end of this year or early next year. The frequency of the Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight will also be increased from five to seven times a week. Other North American destinations in the future plans include Houston, Washington and Dallas,” reveals Sabharwal.
 
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