Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), NGO, held a meeting and press conference at Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh with Punjab Local Bodies, Tourism and Culture Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu who has asked the central government to stop discrimination with the Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport, Amritsar and start direct international flights immediately to cut down the losses of Airport. Sameep Singh Gumtala of the AVM said the holy city of Amritsar is the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion and a preferred destination not just for the Punjabi diaspora and foreign tourists as well who come here to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. AVM has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Punjab & Haryana High Court for starting of direct international flights from the Airport.
Speaking to the media, Sidhu said since the start of Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto flight in May 2005, occupancy was approximately 92% from Amritsar. During the operation of this flight, it was the highest occupancy compared with the overall 60% average occupancy of other international flights by Air India, so this airport was contributing a big amount. With privatization of Delhi airport in 2010, for reasons best known to the government, these flights were re-routed from Delhi. Due to this, international traffic from the airport that was approx. 75% of the total traffic till 2009 took a big hit and became 75% domestic and only 25% direct international passengers.
Sidhu said from the very beginning, I raised this issue as Member of Parliament that DGCA is discriminating against the Amritsar international Airport and that the policies and decision are being made in such a way that private airports can grow at the cost of the State Airport and the results are now in front of the public. In 2010, after the start of new Airport at Delhi, I opposed the diversion of Amritsar-London-Toronto flight as Amritsar-Delhi-London and Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto but the government did not hear to it. This has caused a big loss to the public exchequer as these airports are built from public money which the government has no right to waste and give profit to some private organization.
It is high time that government should take initiative and initiate strict actions to bring this airport in profit which would not only reduce the inconvenience caused to the public at large and that would also best utilize the public money. There are many foreign carriers like Emirates, Etihad, Oman Air, Air Asia, Lufthansa, British Airways, Turkish etc. who have already shown their interest to fly from Amritsar but bilateral agreements of seat sharing and other policies of government are hindrance in starting of these flights, which the government should look into and try bringing these airlines to Amritsar Airport by any means. As Tourism & Culture Minister of Punjab, State government will provide full support to the Airport and it will also approach all the Indian and foreign airlines to start direct international flights to and from the holy city of Amritsar.
Ankur Soni, Advocate and Legal Advisor of the AVM said that Delhi is the only airport in the country that is charging double User Development Fee (UDF) per passenger both for landing and departure, but still Air India and other international carriers are paying this fee and operating maximum flights from Delhi. Interestingly, a petition has been filed by Air India itself before the Supreme Court against Delhi International Airport Limited, since Delhi Airport is recovering Rs. 300 crore every month through these charges, and at this rate, by March 2019, it would have collected Rs. 17157.15 crore against the originally targeted Rs. 7709.61 crore. This shows how this airport after privatization is minting money like anything, but the government is still silent and letting the other airports to go in losses which is evident from the fact that last year, Amritsar airport suffered a loss of Rs. 50 crore.
That as per statistics, Delhi Airport is earning User Development Fee to the tune of Rs 20 crore approx. per year for the Amritsar-Delhi-Birmingham flight but if the same flight originates from Amritsar, then the UDF will be only Rs 5 crores. Amritsar Airport is being devoid of this UDF apart from other landing, fuel and miscellaneous fees which could fetch approximately Rs. 10 crore for a single flight and substantially reduce the losses of Amritsar Airport. This would also bring Air India to profit as they will have to pay substantially low amount of User Development Fee.
Sidhu appreciated the efforts by AVM who has taken this initiative to highlight the plight of Amritsar Airport before the Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court and bring truth before the public who was unaware of the wrong doings. He also appealed to the general public to come forward to support this noble cause initiated by Amritsar Vikas Manch and has been till date successful in bringing the truth before the court which has already given strict instruction to Air India and others Respondents in the petition to give valid reason as to why the Amritsar Airport has been sidelined and no action has been taken to bring it back to profit. Amritsar Vikas Manch lawyer Ankur Soni, President Kulwant Singh Ankhi, Secretary Overseas Affairs Sameep Singh Gumtala, Manch US Patron Er. Harjap Singh Aujla, Manmohan Singh, Jagjiwan Singh were also present in the press conference.
Full video of the press conference:
