After years of hard work and petitioning, direct flight took off from Heathrow Airport in London to reach Ahmedabad at 6:45 am on 16 December, aapnu amdavad duly welcomed it and its passengers with pomp, fervour and affability. As the feeling of celebration ran in the air, the 180 travellers got off the plane with smiles and glow on their faces despite the long journey.
Present at the terminal were State Civil Aviation Minister Jasabhai Barad, Minister of the NRI department, Pradipsinh Jadeja, Ahmedabad's recently elected Mayor Gautam Shah, Deputy Mayor Pramoda Sutaria, and, buzzing media reporters who effectively stepped up the excitement. Also present was All Party Committee for Direct Flight's India Co-ordinator Bhupatrai Parekh. Amongst those welcomed were London solicitor Manoj Ladwa and APBL Publisher/ Editor CB Patel. Tourism Department Commissioner N Srivastava, Additional Secretary NRI department NP Lavingiya, Gujarat state NRG Foundation Director PV Antani, Captain Ashok Chauhan, airport officials, Gujarat Tourism department officials and, Gujarat Samachar (UK) and Asian Voice was made their attendance in greeting the first direct flight in 14 years.
Speaking after the arrival of the direct flight, Pradipsinh Jadeja said, “I am overjoyed with the fact that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave in to our demand for a direct air connectivity from Britain to Gujarat. Earlier passengers used to get air connectivity either from Mumbai or Dubai which wasn't really convenient. Gujaratis living across the world and those in Britain can now directly reach Ahmedabad airport, which is not only handy but also saves them time.”
Expressing her delight, passenger Anilaben said, “We are very happy that the direct flight has finally resumed after a lot of time. It helps make it easy for people like us to reach our country. Before this we had to get down at Mumbai or Dubai which prolonged our travel and it took us a lot of time to reach Gujarat. The direct flight saves our time.” Another passenger Kshama Parekh said, “The direct flight from London to Ahmedabad saved me a lot of time, and, it didn't get dreary!” She also added, “The flight did stop over in Mumbai but no time was wasted. If the plane provides us with a direct air connectivity to Ahmedabad, a short stopover is no big deal.”
