Sikhs to fly Sikh to their Holy City Amritsar

A direct air link from Birmingham to Amritsar in Northern India is to be launched - with a new airline serving, amongst others, the large Punjabi and Sikh populations of the Midlands.
The inaugural flight will leave Birmingham International Airport on Saturday 4th April and arrive in Amritsar on Sunday morning by 8.30 to a reception that will be hosted by the ruling political party in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal.
The flights will be operated using a 228-seater Boeing 757 200.
Daljit Singh Birring, Managing Director of Akal Air, which is backed by investors from the West Midlands and the South East, said: “Birmingham is the perfect base for Akal Air. Access to Amritsar is of huge importance to the large Punjabi and Sikh population of the Midlands taking the pilgrimage to the Golden Temple and visiting family and friends, as well as for business people trading with India’s emerging and developing economy.”
The move comes at a tough time for the airline industry – but the private investors behind Akal Air believe they can exploit a gap in the market by targeting a destination which is currently poorly served by others out of Birmingham International Airport.
Akal Air, the trading style of Air Sylhet, will fly to Amritsar twice a week, departing on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 18.30 from Birmingham International Airport, via a non-transfer flight routed through Vienna.
Akal Air is a trading style of Air Sylhet AG. Air Sylhet AG obtained its Austrian Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and Air Operators Licence (AOL) on May 29, 2008. Formal notice of its AOC and AOL has been published in the Official Journal of The European Union.
27/03/09 The Sikh Times, UK

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2009, New Mar 2009