Air India resumes Amritsar-Birmingham direct flight

New Delhi, February 2

Air India on Tuesday resumed non-stop flights between Amritsar and Birmingham after a gap of eight years.

The flight will operate twice-a-week on Tuesday and Thursday with a Boeing 787 aircraft.

According to an Air India official, the airline had suspended its direct operations on this route in 2010.

Another official said with Air India resuming the service it is the only airline to offer direct flights between Punjab and the UK.

The flight AI 117 will take off from Delhi at 11.20 am and reach Amritsar at 12.25 pm. The flight will then depart from Amritsar at 1.55 pm and reach Birmingham at 5.15 pm local time, according to an Air India statement.

The return flight AI 118 will take off from Birmingham at 6.45 pm and reach Amritsar the following day at 7.45 am. For its onward journey to Delhi, the flight will leave from Amritsar at 9.15 am and arrive in Delhi at 10.30 am, the statement added.

The inaugural flight was flagged off from Amritsar by Union minister Vijay Sampla, MPs Shwait Malik and Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Director-Commercial, Air India Pankaj Srivastava.

Former civil aviation minister Praful Patel had inaugurated Air India's maiden flight on this route back in 2005. — PTI