The first-ever “Made in India” commercial aircraft will start flying from today and will provide air connectivity to remote towns of Arunachal Pradesh. In what would be a red letter day in the history of Indian aviation, this will further boost air connectivity of the North Eastern Region with the rest of the country.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has approved a Scheme- “Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region (NER)” to promote air connectivity in the states of North Eastern Region and, if required, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity.
Both events will be attended by the Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia and the Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Pema Khandu will also be present. These two aircraft were handed over to Alliance Air last Thursday and one has been shifted to Dibrugarh airport, the newest hub for Alliance air.
The aircrafts will be used to give air connectivity to remote places of eastern Arunachal Pradesh including some areas close to China and Myanmar borders. The Advanced Landing Grounds ( ALG) maintained by the Indian Air Force will be used for landing, officials added.
Alliance Air will initially be flying from Dibrugarh to Pasighat. And in the next 15 to 20 days, it will fly to Tezu and then to Ziro, both towns in Arunachal Pradesh. All of this will happen in the first phase.
In the second phase, it will connect Vijaynagar, Mechuka, Along and other places will be linked, a top official of Ministry of civil aviation said.All these places in eastern Arunachal Pradesh needed 1-5 days of travel to reach the nearest airports of Dibrugarh and Lilabari in Assam, officials further added. Development of the North Eastern Region (NER) is not only of strategic importance, but is a part of India’s growth story.
Connectivity in the NorthEastern Region is very essential and Under “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)”, the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has identified the North Eastern Region as a priority area. This has helped in enhancing inter and intra connectivity for the North Eastern Region.
In this regard, new airports are getting developed and old airports are getting upgraded. Considering the hilly terrain, helicopter operations under UDAN scheme have been given focus for connectivity.
