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The Golden Flight
Should
Sikhs abandon
Amritsar
International
Airport?
Harjap Singh
Aujla
 During the reign
of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and subsequently in British Governed India,
Amritsar was considered virtually the second capital of Punjab.
Lahore was the cultural, social and educational capital of
Punjab
and
Amritsar
was the industrial and commercial capital of Punjab. The British
Government was earning more revenue from
Amritsar
than from the largest Punjabi city of Lahore.
After India’s
independence, the successive central and state governments tried to
scuttle the dominance of Amritsar. Only one chief minister of
Punjab, Sardar Partap Singh Kairon, who hailed from
Amritsar
district, was fair to this city. It was during the chief ministerial
tenure of Sardar Kairon that Amritsar maintained its status as the
commercial, cultural, educational and industrial capital of Punjab.
After the
creation of Punjabi Suba, even the Akali Chief Minsters of
Punjab
persisted with the policy of destroying the prosperity and dominance
of
Amritsar.
First, due to government’s apathy, the local industry started
fleeing the city and then New Delhi replaced Amritsar as the bulk
supplier of cloth. There was a time when only Sri Darbar Sahib
(popularly known as the Golden Temple) saved the city from total
collapse. Pilgrims kept thronging to this city to pay obeisance at
the Darbar Sahib and the local Bazaars earned their livelihood from
the pilgrims.
After the turn
of the millennium some foreign airlines started taking interest in
operating from Amritsar. These were Uzbekistan Airways and
Turkmenistan Airways. Somehow the top brass of these airlines came
to know that a lot of Sikhs are living in Birmingham, London and
some European capitals. These two airlines started serving these
expatriate Sikhs. Most of the Sikhs settled in the
U.K.
hail from the districts of Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Nawanshehar,
Ludhiana and Kapurthala. Landing in New Delhi and traveling to their
destinations in Punjab takes at least eight hours and the journey is
arduous and hazardous. In addition the Delhi Police and Haryana
Police also fleece and harass these visitors.
Some senior citizens,
who had not traveled for years to
Punjab
also started taking advantage of traveling by these airlines. From
Amritsar,
Punjabi folks would take between an hour and three hours to reach
their ancestral destinations. A small Russian airline also took
advantage and flew Punjabis to Amritsar. The Punjabi passengers had
the added advantage of pilgrimage to Sri Darbar Sahib on arrival and
while departing. These few smaller airlines gave a lot of boost to
the hotel industry in Amritsar and a number of budget hotels started
mushrooming in the city. In the meanwhile, traveling between New
Delhi and Amritsar on the domestic circuit also started increasing.
When some other aviation companies especially Singapore Airlines and
Bombay
based Jet Airways started showing interest in operating from
Amritsar International Airport, the Government of India started
levying higher charges for landing, parking and operating from
Amritsar. These charges were twice compared to much busier
Bombay
and New Delhi airports.
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Amritsar is the
fulcrum of Sikh community. It is the duty of every devout Sikh to
make sure that Amritsar survives with grace and dignity. Even if we
belong to other places, Amritsar is still our centre. We should not
let it fall by the way side. |
For some unknown
reasons, the Government of India’s baby Air India has always been
reluctant to operate from
Amritsar
International
Airport. In 2005, they also decided to operate on
Amritsar
– Birmingham – Toronto route. The date chosen to start the service
was from the first of May. Everybody knows that Amritsar’s tourist
season starts with Diwali (Bandi Chhorh Diwas) and ends on Baisakhi.
According to English calendar, Amritsar’s tourist season starts from
the end of October and ends by April 15. But Air India decided to
start flying on Amritsar – Birmingham – Toronto route on May the
first. Air India’s expectations were that this flight will become
non-profitable within a couple of months and after that they will
have a good excuse to discontinue the service. But what happened is
totally on the contrary, the passenger load started picking up with
every passing day. Flabbergasted, the Air India persisted with this
flight. Then they played another gimmick. In order to keep their
full quota of landing slots intact at the Heathrow Airport London,
Air India stopped operating to Birmingham and diverted their flights
to Heathrow Airport London. Since fewer Sikhs live in the London
area than in the Birmingham area, Air India reduced their service to
thrice a week from six times a week. Again in 2009, public demand
forced Air India to increase the service frequency on Amritsar –
London – Toronto to seven flights per week.
At present
Amritsar – London – Toronto Route is Air India’s most profitable
route. On most other routes Air
India
is losing money, but on Amritsar – London – Toronto Route, they are
still minting money. Air India is not oblivious to the fact that
there are more Sikhs living in and around Vancouver (British
Columbia, Canada) and in the Province of Alberta than in the
Province of Ontario (Toronto area) and these Sikhs have been living
in that area for a longer duration and thus are financially better
off. Air
India
knows that more traffic is generated everyday from
Vancouver
to Amritsar than it exists between Toronto and Amritsar. In spite of
that Air India is quite reluctant to start
Amritsar
– Vancouver flights.
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The Government
of Punjab is not interested in developing either Amritsar city or
Amritsar Airport and is rather focused on Chandigarh/Mohali
International Airport. Those airlines which had pulled out of Amritsar
International
Airport have now re-applied to operate out of Chandigarh. Some one
quite high up in the Punjab Government prompted them to pull out of
Amritsar.
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Air India has
two choices for flying to Vancouver. They have the option of flying
directly via the North Pole to Vancouver in 14 hours by long haul
Boeing 777-200Aircraft, or they can fly by conventional aircraft via
Seoul, Beijing or Tokyo.
The expatriate
Sikh community can help
Amritsar
International
Airport. Recently some Sikhs based in England talked to the
executives of Mahan Airlines of Iran to start a service between
Amritsar and Birmingham via Teheran. Mahan Airlines obtained rights
from the British Government to operate to Birmingham Airport. Since
Birmingham is not a frequently touched international airport, the
British authorities readily agreed to the request. After that Mahan
Airlines applied to the Indian authorities to allow them to operate
from
Amritsar
International
Airport. Since Amritsar Airport is not very important to the Indian
authorities, permission was readily granted to Mahan Airlines to
start operating from
Amritsar
Airport.
Consequently from July of 2009, Mahan Airlines has started flying
thrice a week to Teheran International Airport and from there the
passengers are put on the connecting flights to Birmingham. This
makes every body happy. Iran gets thus far untapped business and
Amritsar and Birmingham also gain passengers.
Similarly a wise
influential Sikh talked to the high ups in Qatar Airways. He told
them that there are thousands of Sikhs and other Punjabis living in
Melbourne, Houston, Washington D.C. and New York areas. As a result
Qatar Airways are starting services from
Amritsar
with effect from October 11, 2009. They are going to fly four times
a week from Amritsar, but their convenient connections to other
world cities will make Amritsar a very well connected international
airport.
It is my humble
request to the well wishers of Sikhism, living in the Canadian
Province of British Columbia, individually or as a delegation, to
seek interviews with the executives of Korean, Chinese, Taipei and
Japanese aviation companies to start two-way flights from their
capitals to Vancouver and Amritsar with a two hour change over
interval at their headquarters. The arriving flight from Amritsar
should wait for passengers from Vancouver and the one from Vancouver
should wait for passengers from Amritsar. I can bet these flights
will run full to capacity and be highly profitable. There is so much
passenger rush on this segment that
Vancouver
– Amritsar flights can run on all seven days.
Similarly, the
influential Sikhs living in Northern California area, where more
than two hundred thousand Sikh farmers, truckers and professionals
reside, can request the Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Taipei
aviation companies to start San Francisco to Amritsar flights via
their capitals or hub stations. These flights, to start with, can be
thrice a week. Los Angeles area is now becoming more heavily
populated by the Punjabi Diaspora. Even LA Sikhs can make a similar
arrangement.
Amritsar
International
Airport is already on its way to become very well connected with
important American cities, the only exceptions will be Chicago and
the West coast cities like Vancouver, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
If the local heavy-weight Sikhs try to talk with important airlines,
even the difficult to connect West Coast can be connected with
Amritsar.
The Government
of Punjab is not interested in developing either Amritsar city or
Amritsar Airport. They are pushing for early construction of
Chandigarh/Mohali International Airport. Some of the airlines, like
Jet Airways and Singapore Airlines, which had pulled out of Amritsar
International Airport, have recently re-applied to operate out of
Chandigarh
International
Airport. That means some one quite high up in the Punjab Government
 prompted them to pull out of Amritsar International Airport and the
same aviation companies will soon start flying from Chandigarh
International Airport.
Amritsar is the
fulcrum of Sikh community. It is the duty of every devout Sikh to
make sure that Amritsar survives with grace and dignity. Even if we
belong to other places, Amritsar is still our centre. We should not
let it fall by the way side.
23
September 2009
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