FlyAmritsar Initiative urges Scoot for Expansion of connectivity from Amritsar
(Asian Independent)- July 18, 2022: In a further boost to the international air connectivity from Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar the Singapore airline group low-cost subsidiary Scoot is now connecting Amritsar with Vancouver in Canada as well as San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles in the USA via one of the world’s best Changi Airport in Singapore.
In a press communique, Sameep Singh Gumtala – Global Convener of FlyAmritsar Initiative revealed that
pre-pandemic Scoot along with its group partner Singapore Airlines was connecting Amritsar with many destinations including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane in Australia. After the resumption of its flights to Amritsar in February 2022, the airline has been successful in recapturing the travel market to Southeast Asia & Australia, and they are now eyeing Amritsar’s North America air travel market especially to Vancouver and San Francisco by connecting with flights through their flagship carrier Singapore Airlines.
He further added, the Singapore Airlines used to operate flights from Amritsar during 2004 to 2009 and the connection to Vancouver and Los Angeles were very popular among the Punjabi’s. The airline then suspended both Vancouver and Amritsar routes in early 2009. With the airline again flying direct non-stop flights to west coast of North America, Punjab is once again connected with these destinations from Amritsar through Singapore.
The FlyAmritsar Initiative recently held a special meeting with officials from Scoot airline and requested them to increase the number of flights to Amritsar. A team comprising of Anantdeep Singh Dhillon and Mohit Dhanju from Canada, Yogesh Kamra, and Ravreet Singh from Amritsar, along with Sameep Gumtala from United States thanked the airline for the resumption of their flights, increasing frequency to 5-weekly flights, and further expanding its connectivity from Amritsar to North America.
They urged the airline to reduce the long layover time at Singapore for passengers arriving from Vancouver and other destinations in USA and Australia. Gumtala gave a presentation with detailed statistics about Punjabi diaspora around the world, potential business opportunities to more destinations were also shared with the airline officials.
At present, the inbound Scoot flight from Amritsar leaves at 7:40 pm arriving in Singapore at 4:05am local time. With a short layover of around 2 hours 55 minutes, passengers can than connect through to Singapore Airlines flight departing at 7:00am and arriving in Vancouver at 6:45am, total trip duration of 23 hrs. 35 mins. Currently, the outbound flight from Vancouver arrives in Singapore shortly after the Scoot flights leaves for Amritsar. As a result, passengers have a long layover in Singapore for about 23hrs, thus making the journey bit long and tedious. Due to these reasons passenger may choose in either flying to or via Delhi and thus airline tends to lose this huge traffic.
It was shared with the officials that it is crucial for airline to increase the flight frequency to either twice daily or adjust the timing of flights for accessible connectivity on outbound journey from North American destinations especially Vancouver. The FlyAmritsar has requested travelers to explore this new route via Singapore and keep supporting campaign to get better flight options from Amritsar for various destinations around the globe.
