Amritsar International Airport has a lot of potential to be profitable: Aujla
Amritsar Vikas Manch firmly believes that Sri Guru Ram Das International Airport, Amritsar, has a lot of potential to be profitable, but there is lack of will on the part of those in authority to turn its fortunes around. The AVM believes that the adoption of hub and spoke system is not compatible with Indian conditions. America is a country with uniformity in population demographics. This enables all big cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Atlanta to serve as hubs and the smaller cities to serve as the spoke stations. But India has certain states from which disproportionately high number of people have immigrated to certain specific countries and direct air connections between those Indian states and the foreign countries of their adoption become highly profitable contended Harjap Singh Aujla, a USA patron of Amritsar Vikas Manch and an NRI from the United States. Based on his experience of living for thirty three years in the USA, Mr. Aujla firmly believes that the old pattern of connectivity adopted by former Indian Airlines is more suitable for India. Before merger with Air India, Indian Airlines was profitable. It was connecting North East and Andaman Nikobar islands with Kolkata, South Indian cities with Chennai and Mumbai and North Indian cities with New Delhi.
According to Aujla, Amritsar Airport enjoys a unique strategic location. Nearly two and a half million people from the districts surrounding this airport are settled in Great Britain, Canada and the United States. Amritsar is fully capable of generating three hundred passengers for each of the cities of Birmingham, Toronto, Vancouver and London. But these flights are sadly not being started by an India based carrier. According to an American rule of thumb, if a plane can be in the air for fifteen out of twenty four hours, and it carries eighty percent passenger load, it can never lose money. Amritsar London and Amritsar Birmingham direct flights can be completed in twenty hours and can be highly profitable, but none of the Indian aviation company is taking advantage of these lucrative routes. One way journey of Vancouver Amritsar flights and Toronto Amritsar flights can be completed in fifteen hours and can generate handsome profits. If six planes can be stationed in Amritsar, one each for London and Birmingham and two each for Toronto and Vancouver, the Amritsar Airport can recover all its losses and return profit. Only will is needed. If all possible flights to the Middle - East can be started from Kerala and Ahmedabad Chicago flights are started, Air India can start generating profits. Using New Delhi and Mumbai as the exclusive hubs is not a suitable model for Air India. If direct flights start to UK , vegetables and other eatables can be export from Amritsar airport .So Air cargo can generate income for the air port and it will be beneficial for armers also
Dr. Charanjit Singh Gumtala, Professor Mohan Singh, Daljit Singh Kohli, Dilbhinder Singh from UK , Dev Raj Shrama, Gurmit Singh Bhatti, Lakhbir Singh Ghuman and others were present in the press conferance.