PREET KAUR GILL along with 11 other West Midlands MPs with large Punjabi and Sikh diaspora have written to Birmingham Airport CEO Nick Barton about more regular direct flights to Amritsar, Punjab from Birmingham.
Direct flights resumed in August last year as Covid travel restrictions were relaxed. But there is only one direct flight per week to Amritsar from Birmingham International Airport. There are more than 130,000 Sikhs in the West Midlands region.
Responding to the request, Birmingham Airport chiefs have pledged to do all they can to restore more flights to Amritsar.
The MPs pointed out that earlier there were six weekly flights and people now have to head to London airports.
"We are writing to you as the elected representatives of the large Punjabi and Sikh diaspora communities in the West Midlands about the frequency of flights from Birmingham International Airport to Sri Guru Ram Das Jee Airport, Amritsar," the letter to Barton, dated 4 July said.
The letter added that there is a significant Sikh and Punjabi population in the West Midlands, in Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell and Wolverhampton. Over 130,000 Sikhs were registered in the West Midlands in the 2011 Census.
"It was therefore extremely welcome that a direct flight from Birmingham to Amritsar, the city of the Golden Temple, the holiest Gurdwara and most important pilgrimage site in the Sikh faith was introduced in 2017, and subsequently increased to five and six flights per week the following year," the letter said.
"While it was welcome that the Birmingham-Amritsar direct flight resumed last August as Covid travel restrictions relaxed, we are concerned that the regularity of flights has remained significantly scaled-down. Currently, there is only one direct flight per week to Amritsar, Punjab from Birmingham International Airport."
MPs said that their constituents have complained that they are having to travel to London to secure flights, which are more expensive in their own right, with additional travel costs, parking fees and inconvenience.
"The establishment of regular direct flights from Birmingham-Amritsar was a great boon to tourism and trade links between the UK and India, not to mention its importance to the Punjabi and Sikh diaspora. Therefore we are writing to you now to ask what plans there are to scale up the frequency of direct flights again and what obstacles exist to doing so without delay," the letter added.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)