By Ravinder Singh Robin

Amritsar June 11 (ANI): Punjab’s Amritsar city would soon be linked to Qatar with the commencement of first direct flight from here to Doha city, courtesy Qatar Airways.

The Qatar Airways would be the first Airlines from Middle East airlines that will connect holy city Amritsar, the city of Golden Temple.

Qatar Airways currently operates 56 flights a week between Qatar and India with daily non-stop services to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.

The addition of Amritsar and Goa will take Qatar Airways’ Indian capacity to 64 flights a week.

Sources said that Qatar Airways had advanced the launch of its two new Indian routes to Goa and Amritsar, which are now scheduled for October in time for the busy winter holidays.

Scheduled flights from Doha to Amritsar city will be launched on October 11 ahead of Diwali, the festival of lights.

On October 25, Goa will be connected to Doha city.

Sources informed that both routes would be operational non-stop four times a week from the airline’s hub in Doha.

The two-class Airbus A320s will be used on the routes.

The Doha-Amritsar flight will depart here on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sundays at 9.40 p.m.

Meanwhile sources at Airport informed that another Tehran based “Mahan Airlines” would also be commencing its flights from Amritsar in the first week of July. It would connect Amritsar to Tehran, U.K. , Germany and Dubai with its services. Mahan Airlines would operate three times in a week.

There are about 90 domestic and an International flights operating from Raja Sansi Airport at Amritsar. Due to lack of cargo and J class load, Singapore Airlines has withdrawn its service from Amritsar from February 4 this year. (ANI)