Amritsar International Airport

[Guest Guest]

we are talking about the humiliation of Gursikhs at Indian Airports still happening! what would Mone know about it

like what happened at the Asian Games in Delhi 1982

[harwinder84]

i would the idea of the Halwara airport...as our village is bout 5 minutes but our relatives wud not accept it as their zameeen will be the ground where the airport be built....n they dun wanna lose tat

[SaRpAnCh]

Yh true it would be convenient,but the environmental consequences are far too grave for this age,1stly land will go and it will be a concrete jungle secondly pollution will rise

[BABBAR KHALISTANI]

"ONE" of the reasons y they suspect so much at amritsar airport is coz many punjabis who go abroad on fake visas and fake passports board planes frm amritsar. But this might be just one of the reasons rest we all know how indian govt and most ppl outside punjab see us : as "aatankvadis"

[Akhoza]

When i went in 2000 the Amritsar airport was a shabby place and well on the return journey the plane was delayed for 12 hrs and we were given some nasty sandwiches and everything seemed fresh and basic lolz

[Guest Guest]

Don't get taken in by posts saying that Amritsar airport is a hassle and going through Delhi is a breeze. These types of posts and false rumours are being circulated by vested interests. As more and more flights and passengers land in Amritsar the more income Delhi loses. I went to Punjab in December last year and I had no problems and I wear a Dastar. The arrangements for luggage such as a Tractor to move the luggage from the plane to terminal is basic but it does the job! Depending on how far the plane lands from the terminal you either walk 50 yards from plane to terminal or 250 yards by transfer bus. The service at the Airport is good and I had not problems at immigration. The luggage came on time and from the time the plane landed to when we got out of the Airport was about 40 minutes. This is because unlike Delhi where the immigration queue is packed the queue in Amritsar was light because usually only one flight lands at a time. There were 3 immigration officers on duty, Delhi usually has six.

As for the other scare stories. Porters do approach you to take their luggage but unless you have the mental age of 5 then you tell them that you can handle your own luggage and they'll leave you alone. The good thing about Amritsar is that the people who have come to drop you off can come and stay in the terminal for a fee of 35 rupees each. Unlike Delhi where they have to wait in a building across the road. The number of trolleys in Amritsar are sufficient unlike in Delhi where once when we arrived at departures some Bhayyas had got hold of all the trolleys and were charging 100 rupees to passengers to use a trolley! Even though passengers had already paid something like 800 rupees as airport tax. Toilet facilities are also good and they are clean like Delhi. There is no STD PCO facility there but as most passengers have mobiles then it doesn't present a problem. There is a good restaurant and a fast food joint at the Airport and prices are expensive but then you would only eat at the Airport in an emergency as there are so many good restaurants on the road to the Airport. The terminal building is new being opened only a few years ago. Being a smaller airport than Delhi I've found it actually takes less time to go through Amritsar than Delhi.

I've been going to India through Delhi for the last 15 years and this was the first time I went via Amritsar Airport and to be honest I will never go through Delhi again. If you look at all the disadvantages of Delhi for passengers going to Punjab then you can understand why more and more passengers are going through Amritsar. The journey from our village in Ludhiana district to the Airport took a little over 2 hours. The journey from Delhi is about 7 hours. It is easier for relatives to get to the airport unlike Delhi. If you want to hire a good sized vehicle to take you and relatives to Amritsar airport it's about 1600 rupees round trip, to Delhi the same vehicle will cost you at least double.

Although the talk of a new airport at Halwara would be ideal of us, the journey from village to airport would be 20 minutes but I would still rather have Amritsar developed to become a first class airport rather than have two international airports in Punjab.

Thank you for the realistic reply. Being ex-resident of amritsar, i can tell u that there are major 7 airlines who want to get Rajasansi Airport landing permit but they are not getting it because of delhi who do not want to loose their business. Approx. 7 major airlines are even willing to give loans to upgrade the airport and add additional landing strips and hanger but again they are said to wait, wait, wait and wait. It will be stupid for us to choose Delhi airport over Amritsar because of few lil less advance system as compared to delhi. Support Punjab economy instead of delhi... Halwara?? Please give ourself a huge break.. Amritsar airport got international status two decades ago and still we haven't made any progress at all. All punjab residents should not act selfish (jallandhar/ldh area) and they should support asr airport. For punjab sake.. keep unity..

[Guest Guest]

yes a Airport at Halwara would be ideal because its in the middle of Punjab and good for those from Ludhiana and Jullunder districts but still same 2 hours for me because wer from Hoshiarpur (better than the 8 hours from Delhi though)

[proactive]

That's what I've heard as well. Many Airlines want to use Amritsar but the govt as usual is dragging its feet.

[Guest Guest]

all the best Airlines go to Delhi and mostly direct in 8 hours i heard British Airways are going to start direct to Amritsar

[H4RPAL]

Don't get taken in by posts saying that Amritsar airport is a hassle and going through Delhi is a breeze. These types of posts and false rumours are being circulated by vested interests. As more and more flights and passengers land in Amritsar the more income Delhi loses. I went to Punjab in December last year and I had no problems and I wear a Dastar. The arrangements for luggage such as a Tractor to move the luggage from the plane to terminal is basic but it does the job! Depending on how far the plane lands from the terminal you either walk 50 yards from plane to terminal or 250 yards by transfer bus. The service at the Airport is good and I had not problems at immigration. The luggage came on time and from the time the plane landed to when we got out of the Airport was about 40 minutes. This is because unlike Delhi where the immigration queue is packed the queue in Amritsar was light because usually only one flight lands at a time. There were 3 immigration officers on duty, Delhi usually has six.

As for the other scare stories. Porters do approach you to take their luggage but unless you have the mental age of 5 then you tell them that you can handle your own luggage and they'll leave you alone. The good thing about Amritsar is that the people who have come to drop you off can come and stay in the terminal for a fee of 35 rupees each. Unlike Delhi where they have to wait in a building across the road. The number of trolleys in Amritsar are sufficient unlike in Delhi where once when we arrived at departures some Bhayyas had got hold of all the trolleys and were charging 100 rupees to passengers to use a trolley! Even though passengers had already paid something like 800 rupees as airport tax. Toilet facilities are also good and they are clean like Delhi. There is no STD PCO facility there but as most passengers have mobiles then it doesn't present a problem. There is a good restaurant and a fast food joint at the Airport and prices are expensive but then you would only eat at the Airport in an emergency as there are so many good restaurants on the road to the Airport. The terminal building is new being opened only a few years ago. Being a smaller airport than Delhi I've found it actually takes less time to go through Amritsar than Delhi.

I've been going to India through Delhi for the last 15 years and this was the first time I went via Amritsar Airport and to be honest I will never go through Delhi again. If you look at all the disadvantages of Delhi for passengers going to Punjab then you can understand why more and more passengers are going through Amritsar. The journey from our village in Ludhiana district to the Airport took a little over 2 hours. The journey from Delhi is about 7 hours. It is easier for relatives to get to the airport unlike Delhi. If you want to hire a good sized vehicle to take you and relatives to Amritsar airport it's about 1600 rupees round trip, to Delhi the same vehicle will cost you at least double.

Although the talk of a new airport at Halwara would be ideal of us, the journey from village to airport would be 20 minutes but I would still rather have Amritsar developed to become a first class airport rather than have two international airports in Punjab.

I think your post is unfair in suggesting these descriptions of issues at Amritsar are falsified. I myself used the Amritsar airport for the first time recently, and recieved quite a lot of unwarranted hassle; I would suggest more so than at Delhi. Also, the staff there appear to be wholly amateurish and nobody seems to know what the rules for anything are. An example was a guard I saw freely allowing some passengers to carry water bottles and pepsi bottles while confiscating small tubs of cream from others'.

There is no doubt Raja Sansi airport could be far more popular if not held back by Delhi, but this does not mean it is without genuine faults.