The tourism sector in Punjab is expected to get a boost as the Rajasansi international airport at Amritsar finally gets connected to Mumbai and Bangalore.
Low-cost domestic airline GoAir started its daily connecting flights between Delhi-Banglore-Mumbai on Sunday.
Gunbir Singh, vice-chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Punjab, said, ?The new connectivity will provide a big relief to NRIs as it will be comfortable for them to travel to other destinations in India after visiting their home state of Punjab. ?Tourism will certainly grow, adding to the state?s economy. The new services will also save the traveling time of the business fraternity,? Singh added.
Speaking with FE, Arun Talwar, airport director, AAI, Amritsar, said, ?Earlier we had five departure and arrival flights and were connected only with Delhi.
However, the Amritsar international airport has seen tremendous growth in domestic passenger traffic over the past five year. In the year 2003-04 the total domestic passengers registered with the airport were 6,249, while in the year 2007-08 the figure went up to 1,25,081.?
The director of the airport said there were no plans to add other destinations yet.
However, Air Sylhet has obtained clearances for running two flights a week connecting Amritsar and Vienna. Air Sylhet is expected to start services from April.
