A new airline is going to start from punjab!!!!!!!! I colud not get its link on the net but i have read an article on it in Times of India,12thOct,2006 Chandigarh, Anilesh S Mahajan A London based Punjabi named Harjinder Singh Sandhu has bought Air Slovakia.He was financial advisor of Air Slovakia ..............He left Punjab when he was just 16 and now he has returned to his homeland with nine aircrafts and plan to make Amritsar an international departure and arrival hub, especially for the Indian diaspora. Sidhu's Son Raqpal Singh told TOI,"Air Slovakia will now go Punjabi. From crew to cuisine to ambience ,everything would have a Punjabi touch. And London would no more be far from Amritsar."The senior Sidhu bought off the airlines for US$30 Million. Raqpal is already here to receive the first flight from London To Amritsar.His father, who is chairman of the company,and his sister Ratanjeet Sidhu,a director will be on board the inaugural flight that will land at Amritsar's Raja Sansi Airport this Saturday.The new name of the airlines will also be revealed then...................
Underlined Text is my own. Sorry for errors and omisions. Left article is just HS Sidhu's introduction.
Operating 737-200 single class configuration with 123 seats on P & W JT 8D - 15.
I think they are flying Birmingham - Bratislava - Amritsar. Good luck, should be fun, anything is better for Punjabi diaspora than landing at IGI-Delhi and going onwards by road/rail. I expect BA & VS will knock down rates ex-DEL some more now!!
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Ok ok peace everybody let the good news flow in...
This is all NDTV's news as i saw yesterday (14th Oct 06)
They said that the airline's first flight landed at ATQ and for those who dont know the name its called Air Slovakia (the guy has purchased the pre-existing Air Slovakia) and the new name might be Golden Star Airlines (if im not wrong).
The airline also features European cabin crews yes!!! european cabin crews who can speak hindi!!!
The food features special punjabi food (i had tasted punjabi food at Chandigarh-its just toooo good).
Dont know about the IFEs.
And yes the topic of the aircraft being operated which has become a heated argument, they operated a B757 in Air Slovakia colours. A 737-200 can be though operated as mel said would be expensive to maintain and operate but if they operate this then it must have a halt at somewhere like Muscat.
The airline's motive is to give the Indian pax a airline to the different countries in the world. Not only ATQ to intl destinations.
Their current fleet has 2x B757s and 1x B737 and they tgt to expand this to 9 soon.
All pax were welcomed at ATQ with flower garlands.
rgds
the_380
-- Edited by the_380 at 13:34, 2006-10-15
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