By Aditi KhannaLondon, Nov 24 (PTI) Air India plans to introduce twonon-stop flights per week between Birmingham and Amritsar inthe new year to meet the increasing consumer demand from theMidlands region to Punjab, Birmingham Airport said in astatement today.
The airport's aviation director, William Pearson, saidthe new non-stop connection will add to the existing dailydirect flight to Delhi.
"With over 200,000 British-Indian people who travel toIndia to visit friends and relatives, and for tourism andbusiness interests, this additional destination shows thelarge demand within the region for non-stop Amritsar servicesfrom the Midlands," he said.
"Air India has been a successful partner for over fouryears and offers great connections to India with servicesoperated by the new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft," headded.
Pankaj Srivastava, director of commercial at Air India,said the new flights are in response to the consumer demandfrom the Midlands region to Punjab.
"Air India is always very sensitive to the needs of theconsumer and is pleased to be connecting the two cities,thereby adding a new city pairing for Air India's expandingglobal network with the only non-stop UK Amritsar service," hesaid.
Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, saidthe new flights will lead to more business cooperation betweenthe two regions.
"These flights will not only make it easier for Punjabisin the area to travel to Amritsar, but also provides a greatopportunity for local and regional businesses to both deepenexisting ties and create new ones," said Gill, who is also thecouncillor for the UK borough of Sandwell which is paired withthe city of Amritsar.
Air India officials in New Delhi did not respondimmediately. PTI AKNSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.