UK MP Tanmanjeet Dhesi bats for direct Amritsar-London flights

UK member of parliament Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi met the civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and commerce and industry minister Som Parkash in New Delhi urging

UK member of parliament Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi met the civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and commerce and industry minister Som Parkash in New Delhi urging them to arrange direct flights between Amritsar and London.

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“The best way to initiate direct flights would be for the national carrier Air India to demonstrate leadership by initiating this route before other international airlines realise the benefit,” he told ministers during his visit.

Dhesi said Som Parkash favoured more direct flights to the UK to boost commerce, trade and tourism within Punjab and neighbouring states. He said minister Puri also assured him that he would try to make it possible at the earliest opportunity, saying he wished to see ‘Guru ki Nagri’ Amritsar to become a gateway for north India and beyond.

MP Dhesi, whose own Slough constituency (close to Heathrow airport) has a lot of Punjabi residents, said, “Since being elected, I have been taking this demand of the diaspora community to Indian ministers, because people (especially the elderly and those with young children) face huge inconvenience due to delays, stopovers and changing aircrafts.”