Ahead Of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh Guru Nanak Dev, national carrier Air India has painted the religious symbol -”Ik Onkar” – on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft’s tail.
Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said that there was a demand to launch a direct flight from Amritsar to London and it was a good opportunity to launch it on the 550th Guru Purab.
Visuals showed the symbol “IK Onkar”, which translates to “God is one”, scripted in the golden colour, while the tail was painted in red.
“We realised that the exterior of a flight is unique and it can be used to promote tourism. We are celebrating 550th Guru Purab with the painting of ”Ik Onkar” which means ”The God is One” painting on the aircraft’s tail. Our flights are flying around the world and India’s message should reach maximum places. This is the reason behind this move,” he told news agency ANI.
The 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus, will be celebrated on November 12.
The special gesture comes a day after Air India launched a direct flight from Amritsar to Patna on October 27 to mark the special day. “The flight, connecting Harmandir Sahib with Takht Sri Patna Sahib, is a tribute to mark the 550th birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Devji,” Air India had said in an official statement.
The flight, operated by the 162-seater A320neo aircraft, will take off from Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport at Amritsar at 2:55 pm and land at Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport in Patna at 5:05 pm.
It will also take off from Patna at 10:55 am to reach Amritsar at 1:15 pm on every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
“The flight will fulfil a long-standing desire of the Sikh pilgrims to have a direct air link between the two venerated Takhts at Amritsar and Patna. While the Golden Temple at Amritsar has always been a popular tourist draw, the Gurudwara at Patna Sahib is also a sacred pilgrimage destination,” the statement said.
