Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements in London on Saturday, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee(GPCC) general secretary Nishit Vyas said that a direct flight between Ahmedabad and Heathrow airport in London was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2004 but it was closed down almost after five years due to revenue losses as enough passengers were not available for the flight.
In a statement, Vyas contested the claims of Modi that a direct Ahmedabad-London and London-Ahmedabad flight was launched by NDA government in 2003 when Atal Bhari Vajpayee was prime minister.
Vyas challenged Modi to produce evidence with regard to his claims. The Congress leader said that the fact was that a direct air service was launched by Air India at the insistence of Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and the then Union Minister Dinsha Patel after Congress-led UPA government came to power in 2004. But it was closed down in 2009 due to huge revenue losses. He said that when the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel came to inaugurate the terminal-2 of the Ahmedabad International Airport in 2010, a delegation consisting of state politicians including current state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, Shankersinh Vaghela, Siddharth Patel as also Narendra Modi as chief minister had met the minister and submitted a memorandum to him to restore Ahmedabad-London direct flight. Vyas said that Praful Patel clearly told the delegation that a direct flight was not viable because of lack of enough revenue generation. But Modi remained silent and did not even think of restoring the flight during the last 18 months since he became he became PM in May 2014. He woke up only after Indians in London reminded him.
14/11/15 Indian Express
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In a statement, Vyas contested the claims of Modi that a direct Ahmedabad-London and London-Ahmedabad flight was launched by NDA government in 2003 when Atal Bhari Vajpayee was prime minister.
Vyas challenged Modi to produce evidence with regard to his claims. The Congress leader said that the fact was that a direct air service was launched by Air India at the insistence of Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel and the then Union Minister Dinsha Patel after Congress-led UPA government came to power in 2004. But it was closed down in 2009 due to huge revenue losses. He said that when the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel came to inaugurate the terminal-2 of the Ahmedabad International Airport in 2010, a delegation consisting of state politicians including current state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki, Shankersinh Vaghela, Siddharth Patel as also Narendra Modi as chief minister had met the minister and submitted a memorandum to him to restore Ahmedabad-London direct flight. Vyas said that Praful Patel clearly told the delegation that a direct flight was not viable because of lack of enough revenue generation. But Modi remained silent and did not even think of restoring the flight during the last 18 months since he became he became PM in May 2014. He woke up only after Indians in London reminded him.
14/11/15 Indian Express
