Birmingham airport gets new flights to Amritsar
[September 17th 2008]
New flights to Amritsar in northern India are being launched from Birmingham airport by a new airline, Bilga Air.
This is good news for the airport and business and leisure travellers as earlier this month Air India announced that it would suspend flights from Birmingham to Amritsar at the end of October.
Bilga Air, named after an important village in the Sikh religion near Amritsar, will operate two flights a week from Birmingham to Amritsar starting on October 9th, with most flights on Sundays and Mondays. Fares will start from £575 return.
With its large Asian population and growing business links with India, Birmingham will welcome the new flights to Amritsar, home of the world famous Golden Temple. The area of the Punjab also has many other attractions for visitors.
“Bilga Air’s operation will help to fill a very popular market which exists in the Midlands, and following the disappointing news that Air India will temporarily suspend its flights between Birmingham and India from the end October, I’m sure it will be greatly welcomed by the Midlands Asian community,” comments Birmingham airport business development director, Peter Vella.
The majority of flights on the new route will be direct. They will be operated on a charter basis by well know UK airline Monarch Airlines. It remains to be seen whether Air India will decide to re-introduce flights from Birmingham to Amritsar in the spring.
Air links between the UK and India are developing as India becomes an increasingly important business centre and world power. Earlier this month Indian airline Kingfisher, owned by billionaire Dr Vijay Mallya, launched direct flights between Heathrow and Bangalore, known as the Silicon Valley of India. Kingfisher is also expected to introduce flights from Heathrow to India’s financial capital, Mumbai.
The new route to Amritsar is more good news for Birmingham airport. On December 15th Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines, has announced that it will begin flights five times a week to Istanbul from Birmingham.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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