Corporate & IT hub to make Amritsar Airport more viable: AVM

Amritsar: Amritsar Vikas Manch has demanded that the holy city amritsar should be made business, corporate & IT hub besides setting up SEZ, I.I.T , I.I.M, I.I.I.T, National Institutes of Biotechnology, Nanotechnology ,Central university etc so that much of the Airlines complaint over paucity of executive class pas oof eexecutive class p ppassengers can be looked after. The mantra is to ensure that more and more central projects are located at Amritsar. In a memoAmritsar.. In a memorandum to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who also hails from Amritsar, Congress President Mrs.Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister S. Parkash Singh Badal, the pattern of Amritsar Vikas Manch Dr Charanjit Singh Gumtala suggested a chain of measures, which if taken in right earnest by the government will go a long way to make Rajasansi Airport more viable and profitable for the Airlines operating from Amritsar.
It is further demanded that Amritsar Airport being the only one on the Indo-Pak border and the city being of international religious, historical & tourist importance in spite of its small size, should be exempted from Landing / Parking charges for at least five years on the pattern of SEZ. It is also important as the Amritsar Airport is in the process of development.Amritsar Airport is in the process of development. In any case the Landing / Parking rates should not be more than half those being charged at metropolitan cities like Delhi.
Cargo handling process at this airport should be computerized so as to speed up the clearing of the booked load and duty drawbacks as is done in Delhi. The present manual Delhi.. The present manual procedure takes 3-4 months which drives businessmen to other ports / Channels. In particular, Air India should reduceIndia should reduce its cargo rates from Amritsar in order to attract more business.
Manch leader further stated that Air India has discontinued its hub-and-spoke flights from Amritsar operative since 1992 connecting the city via Delhi to U.S.A, U.K, Canada, Australia and other countries. Now Singapore Air Lines and Jet Airways have also announced suspension of their Amritsar-Singapore and Amritsar-London flights respectively. This development is hurting the sentiments of the Punjabi Diaspora settled world wide.
09/11/08 Quami Ekta, USA

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Categories: Airports Nov 2008, Foreign Nov 2008