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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
May 17, 2005: Pushing the Kanishka bombing incident to history, national carrier Air-India resumed its Toronto flight on Sunday after two decades of suspending its services. The carrier has begun operating three flights a week to Toronto, with its newly acquired Boeing 777 aircraft.
Air-India will operate three flights a week from Amritsar airport to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. The state-owned carrier has taken special security measures to prevent incidents like the 1985 bombing.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh flagged off the first Air India Toronto flight, which originates from New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and makes stopovers in Amritsar and Birmingham, England. It would leave three times a week from Amritsar, the site of Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple.
Inaugurating the Air India Canada flight, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, "there are many big cities and regions which are not yet internationally connected. Air India is the national airline and it should not just operate just out of Mumbai or Delhi but should also reach out to the major cities."
The Amritsar-Toronto service would be upgraded to a daily one and in the coming months, both Air India and the state's domestic carrier, Indian Airlines, will start other passenger and cargo services from the city.
Services would also be extended to include the new budget Air India Express flights from Amritsar to Gulf countries and other Western destinations, the minister said.
Amarinder Singh said that the Air
India Toronto direct flight is also expected to give a boost to business and tourism in Punjab, as the government was pushing the development of a Sikh tourism circuit in Punjab by linking numerous shrines and places of religious interest.
Millions of people who migrated from Punjab run successful businesses in Canada, Britain and United States. For them, a direct Air India flight linking Punjab with Britain and North America would be a boon, he said.
Many Indians from Amritsar's Punjab state, living in Britain and Canada, have long demanded the flight's resumption. Earlier, passengers wishing to travel to Amritsar had to land in New Delhi and then travel by road.
To handle the increased air traffic, the Amritsar airport is being given a $15 million makeover, which includes a new terminal building and modern landing aids.
A-I's Boeing 747 Emperor Kanishka exploded in mid-air off Irish coast in 1985, after a bomb went off, killing all the 329 passengers and crew onboard. Direct flights from Amritsar to Britain and Canada were scrapped soon after the incident.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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