[Assam] India-New York flight named after Assam -AT

[Ram Sarangapani]

*"People of Assam will be a happier lot now on, as the first ever
Mumbai-Newyork non-stop daily flight introduced by Air India today was named
after the State of Assam." -AT*
**
Would have been far more happier if the flight was between Guwahati and JFK,
or better still Guwahat and Houston :)

--Ram
-----------

>From A Correspondent
 MUMBAI, Aug 1 – People of Assam will be a happier lot now on, as the first
ever Mumbai-Newyork non-stop daily flight introduced by Air India today was
named after the State of Assam. It was an auspicious occasion not only to
the Assam team led by Debashish Sarma, the Deputy Resident Commissioner,
Assam Bhawan, Mumbai who participated in the flag-off ceremony, but to the
whole populace of the state as the high profile flight, with ultra modern
aircraft technology and facilities, was flagged off by Union Minister of
State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel at 12.45 am. (IST) in Mumbai.

The ceremony was preceded by traditional Assamese Bihu dance and Bharat
Natyam of Andhra Pradesh, the state after which another flight is to be
named. Both the folk dances were highly appreciated by the elite gathering
consisting of several members of Parliament, top central and state
bureaucrats, other government officials, filmstars, businessmen among
others.

The Assam team which was led by Sri Sarma also included Himangshu Sekhar
Das, Commissioner, Tourism Department and Liakat Ali, Deputy Director,
Tourism Department.

Addressing the gathering prior to the formal flag-off of the flight, Praful
Patel said that since he sat on the saddle, there have been a sea change in
the aviation sector. He said that the number of aircraft in India has been
increased from a meagre 138 in 2004 to 330 in 2007. The present government
at the Centre has made all out effort to make people in every nook and
corner in the country feel that they are not secluded anymore. They have
been given the opportunity to feel that there are places to remind beyond
metropolis like Mumbai and Delhi. Keeping this aim in view, his department
has decided to name the first two aircraft of this very important fleet
after Andhra Pradesh and Assam. He reiterated his commitment to improve the
condition of the civil aviation sector according to the demand of the
present scenario.

Speaking on the occasion, V Tulsidas, chairman-cum-managing director, Air
India, gave a bird's eye view of the aircraft and narrated the facilities
designed to fit the level of 'customer's delight'. He also informed that the
country's two major air carriers merger will materialise within the next few
weeks and the new name would be 'Air India'. Dr V Trivedi, CMD, Indian
Airlines, also spoke on the occasion. Dr Trivedi disclosed that 10 to 12
existing aircraft have been transformed into cargos and more are to be
inducted soon for this purpose. Both the CMDs proudly announced that after
the merger 'Air India' would be the biggest airline in this region.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.assamnet.org/pipermail/assam-assamnet.org/attachments/20070802/9405f036/attachment.htm>