“We have already acquired land and hope to operate international flights here in a few months time,” said a Chandigarh international airport official requesting anonymity.
“It would ruin our business if international flights become operational in Chandigarh because traders as well as NRIs who travel abroad, would take flights from Chandigarh. Our business is totally dependent on visitors travelling abroad,” said Arsh Singh, a hotelier in Amritsar.
“Amritsar is a tourist city and our business totally depends on tourist footfalls. Thousands of tourists come to see golden temple, and obviously buy local products. Customer footfals will go down after international flights begin operating out of Chandigarh,” said Bhushan Sood a cloth merchant in Amritsar.
“The industry in Amritsar is already suffering losses. Special packages or subsidies should be given, by the state government, to the traders in the city to promote their business among tourists,” Sood said.
“Most businessmen from Ludhiana take international flights from Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee international airport. We would obviously prefer taking flights from Chandigarh as it is relatively closer to the city,” said Sanjay Goyal, a Ludhiana based architect who has to travel Amritsar to take international flights