Air India to start direct flight from Patna to Amritsar from September 27

PATNA: Air India is set to launch a direct flight from Patna to Amritsar from September 27. This announcement was made by Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on his Twitter account on Monday.
The tweet read, “To honour another long pending demand of devotees to provide air connectivity between Guru Nagri & Sri Patna Sahib, I am delighted to announce the commencement of a daily @airindiain flight between Mumbai-Patna-Amritsar from 27th Sept 2019 (sic).”
Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport’s assistant general manager (air traffic management) Santosh Kumar told this newspaper on Tuesday that the airline operators had not yet sought permission for or notified about the commencement of the new flight to Amritsar.
Santosh said, “Air India has been allotted time slot for a new flight between Patna and Bokaro as part of the summer schedule of the Patna airport. However, since recarpeting of the runway at Bokaro airport is going on, it will take some time for the airline to start the flight.”
According to Air India executives, the timing for Mumbai-Patna-Amritsar has not been decided yet. “At present, there is no direct flight from Patna to Amritsar. So, we expect the new one to be a hit among flyers. Bookings will begin from July and the fare is likely to be lower than other connecting flights,” an executive said.
Boring Canal Road resident Anu Johar, who has relatives in Amritsar, hailed the decision. “It takes a lot of time to reach Amritsar and the fare is quite high. I am waiting for the direct flight to be launched,” she said.
Sunny Singh, who runs a souvenir shop at Takhat Sri Harmandir Ji Patna Sahib Gurdwara, often visits Amritsar with his family. He said, “I am happy that Air India will start a direct flight to Amritsar.”
At present, the Patna airport handles 45 arrivals and departures each from 7.10am to 9.40pm every day. It has direct air connectivity with 11 cities, including Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Ranchi and Shamsabad.