Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Wednesday demanded to include both — Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport, Amritsar; and Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali — for direct flights connectivity to Canada, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco (USA), submitting that commencement of direct flights would ensure great facility to large number of travelers for both sides.
 
Dhaliwal, calling on the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia, apprised him that a large number of Punjabis and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders had been living in Canada and USA since long. He requested, on behalf of the Punjab Government, to include both the airports of Amritsar and Mohali for direct flights connectivity to airports — namely Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco (USA) — to redress this long pending demand of the Punjabi Diaspora living in these countries.
 
The Minister apprised the Union Minister that during the NRI Sammelans organized by Punjab Government in December last year, the Punjabi NRIs emphasized for commencement of these flights.
 
He further pointed out that there had been a persistent demand for providing direct air connectivity between Amritsar and Canada. Citing that it is of utmost significance to make direct flights operational from Amritsar to Canadian cities, the Minister said that presently, travelers — both from Amritsar and Canadian cities — are hugely inconvenienced as they have to travel to or from New Delhi or other cities in India to reach their destinations.
 
Emphasizing that there is enough volume of travelers from Amritsar, Dhaliwal informed the Union Minister that this could cater to at least five flights in a week of wide bodied aircrafts to Canada.
 
“The recent bilateral Air Services agreement between India and Canada includes other Indian cities but excluded Amritsar in the list of cities for direct flight operations,” said the Minister.
 
Dhaliwal said that Union Minister assured to consider this demand on priority and to make sincere efforts for solving this issue.