New Delhi: A day after launching flight operation between Amritsar and Gatwick, the Air India on Tuesday launched direct flight to Gatwick from Gujarat’s capital city of Ahmedabad. Union minister of civil aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia formally inaugurated the service virtually from his Delhi office.
The non-stop flight between Ahmedabad and Gatwick will be operated by Air India commencing from today. It will be thrice in a week operation.
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In his address, Scindia said that this new air connectivity will bring in new opportunities for trade and commerce and help Indian students studying in the UK. He said that the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, currently has the capacity to handle 50 lakh domestic and 25 lakh international passengers. The government aims to increase the passenger capacity of Ahmedabad to 1.60 crore, he added.
On the development of civil aviation in Gujarat, Scindia said that the Union government has given specific attention to the infrastructure development in the state. A new terminal has been developed in Kandla, a new integrated terminal building in Surat with the cost of ₹250 crore, and a new ATC tower cum technical building in Vadodara.
Currently, Gujarat has 10 airports, and with the development of two new greenfield airports in Dholera with a cost of ₹1305 crore and Hirasar Rajkot with a cost of ₹1405 crore this number will increase to 12.
In Gujarat, the number of flights operational from airports of Gujarat has increased to over 2500 from 1175 in 2013-14. Under the RCS UDAN scheme, Gujarat has been awarded 83 routes and 55 of them have already been operationalized and the rest will be operational soon.
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Balwantsinh Rajput, minister, Gujarat government, Rajiv Bansal, secretary, ministry of civil aviation and Air India chief executive officer Campbell Wilson were also present during the launching event.
