Surat: With diamond barons getting together to start an airline - Ventura Airconnect - to connect Surat with various destinations in the state, a citizen group on Facebook has begun toying with the idea to raise funds to invite private airlines to operate flights on important domestic routes.
'We Want Working Airport at Surat' (WWWAS), a citizen group on Facebook having more than 70,000 members, has started a campaign on social media to raise funds for providing seat undertaking to private airlines for operating on routes from Surat to Pune, Hyderabad, Goa, Bangalore, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi, etc., on PPP model. The citizen group is toying with the idea of bank guarantee. If each member contributes Rs 100 per month, it will be Rs 70 lakh per month, which could be used to provide seat undertaking or deposit money to a private airline against its operating cost.
In October 2015, textile industrialists led by Navsari MP C R Paatil had offered bank guarantee of Rs 3 crore to Air India for Airbus operation between Delhi and Surat. Air India officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and an evening Airbus operation between Delhi and Surat was started. At present, Surat is catered to by Air India on Delhi-Surat and Surat-Mumbai routes.
28/06/16 Melvyn Reggie Thomas/Times of India
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'We Want Working Airport at Surat' (WWWAS), a citizen group on Facebook having more than 70,000 members, has started a campaign on social media to raise funds for providing seat undertaking to private airlines for operating on routes from Surat to Pune, Hyderabad, Goa, Bangalore, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kolkata, Patna, Varanasi, etc., on PPP model. The citizen group is toying with the idea of bank guarantee. If each member contributes Rs 100 per month, it will be Rs 70 lakh per month, which could be used to provide seat undertaking or deposit money to a private airline against its operating cost.
In October 2015, textile industrialists led by Navsari MP C R Paatil had offered bank guarantee of Rs 3 crore to Air India for Airbus operation between Delhi and Surat. Air India officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and an evening Airbus operation between Delhi and Surat was started. At present, Surat is catered to by Air India on Delhi-Surat and Surat-Mumbai routes.
28/06/16 Melvyn Reggie Thomas/Times of India
