Punjabis home in on Rome

Amritsar: After the USA, UK, Canada and Singapore, now Italy will be linked to Punjab, as a direct chartered flight by GIR Airlines (owned by Sukhwinder Singh, born in Kapurthala, Punjab, now based at United Kingdom), which would fly weekly, today landed with 163 passengers from Rome at the local Rajasansi International Airport here.
The flight, said the organisers, would cater to NRI population of Italy and Spain for their pilgrimage to the city of Golden Temple. There was a great demand for a direct flight to Italy, where there is a recognisable population of Punjabis, who come to Punjab via Delhi— the route which was time consuming and expensive.
The fare in this flight, which has no business class, would be Rs 31,000 and it would take about seven hours to reach Rome. The flight, which can carry over 200 passengers, also has a provision for cargo loading. Sukhwinder Singh, an NRI from UK who arranged the chartered flight, said it would take off next Sunday and 55 seats have already been booked. “We are seeing a great rush and if there is a good response, we may increase flight’s frequency,” he added.
16/12/07 Dharmendra Rataul/Chandigarh Newsline

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007, New Dec 2007