There are now more flight alternatives than ever before for the Punjabi population living in Australia, New Zealand, and other Southeast Asian nations when it comes to direct flights from Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International (SGRDJI) Airport.

Four well-known airlines, Batik Air, Air Asia X, and Malaysia Airlines from Malaysia and Scoot from Singapore, would each offer direct flight service to Amritsar via their respective hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. All of these airlines are vying with one another for passengers by focusing on the Punjabi diaspora.

The FlyAmritsar Initiative’s convener, Sameep Singh Gumtala, announced that Malaysia Airlines would begin operating two weekly direct flights from its hub in Kuala Lumpur to the holy city on November 8. Direct flights from Punjab to a number of destinations in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, and other nations would be offered by the airlines.

Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland, Bangkok, Phuket, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, and Manila are some of these cities. This would be the third Malaysian airline to begin service to Amritsar, offering 700 weekly tickets in total.

The airline also participates in the Oneworld Alliance, which allows passengers to travel with airlines from other nations, including Australia’s Qantas. Cities in Australia and New Zealand can be reached in 15 to 17 hours by car.

To improve and enhance connectivity both ways, Singapore’s Scoot is also rescheduling its flight time during the winter season from November to March end.

The Scoot flight would now arrive at Amritsar airport in the morning at 9:05 am. It would depart for Singapore at 10:30 am.

The airline has an operational Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with either 335 or 375 seats on this air route. This means that the total capacity of the airlines is 3,430 seats per week.

“The new flight timings would now offer seamless connectivity for both inbound and outbound travellers to a wide network of destinations beyond Singapore,” said Gumtala. He requested that Punjabis should prefer flying directly to Amritsar instead of Delhi to support all flights and make the plan successful.