Amritsar-Toronto AI flight to be restored
Foundation of domestic terminal at Bathinda to be laid on January 20, 2011, union minister tells Sukhbir.
Union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel on Tuesday gave in-principle clearance to the direct Amritsar-Toronto link with an Air India flight.

This flight had been discontinued October 2010.
During a meeting with the SAD-BJP delegation led by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in Delhi, the union minister also said that the foundation stone of the domestic terminal at Bathinda would be laid on January 20 next year. Patel himself will come to Bathinda for the ceremony, according to a government spokesperson.
Patel also said that all the requisite defence, environment and other clearances for setting up the Bathinda domestic terminal had been secured.
A memorandum submitted by the delegation to the union minister stated that following discontinuation of the Amritsar-Toronto flight, NRIs from all over the world are resentful.
Badal also impressed upon the civil aviation minister to immediately introduce direct flights from Amritsar to Birmingham, Amritsar to New York and Amritsar to Vancouver in addition to the restoration of the AI 188/187 direct flight from Amritsar to Toronto in view of the huge potential with NRIs travelling down from Europe, UK, Canada and the US.