‘36 identified…’: DoNER Ministry makes revelation on airports in Northeast

Guwahati: The Ministry of Development of North-East Region (MDoNER) recently said that 36 airports, heliports, and water aerodromes have been identified in the Northeast Indian states under the Centre’s UDAN scheme for development and operation of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) flights, and 68 RCS routes have already been operationalised so far”, the Minister asserted.

The Ministry also affirmed that “all the eight Northeast Indian states now have air connectivity.” It notes that the mountainous states of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, which up until very recently did not have air services, have now joined the list.

The Pakyong airport in Sikkim, one of the highest in the country, became operational on October 4, 2018. Arunachal Pradesh currently has two airports - the Tezu airport and the Pasighat airport – that are operational for civilians.

This assertion was made by DoNER Minister of State BL Verma in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. The Ministry also shared details of air traffic from the airports in the region from 2020-21 to 2022-23. As expected, the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport in Guwahati topped the list.

While total aircraft movement in Guwahati was 23,442 in 2020-21 when airports were shut down due to the pandemic, the numbers have risen steadily since then, reaching 45,909 in 2022-23. The Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala followed with 12,203 air traffic in 2022-23. 

The Ministry in its statement shared data on air traffic volumes at the airports in Dibrugarh, Guwahati Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Rupasi, Silchar, Tezpur in Assam, Hollongi, Pasighat, Tezu, and Zero in Arunachal Pradesh, Imphal in Manipur, Barapani in Meghalaya, Aizawl in Mizoram, Dimapur in Nagaland, Pakyong in Sikkim, and Agartala in Tripura.

Earlier this year, the Minister for DoNER, Tourism and Culture, G Kishan Reddy the 17 operational airports in the North Eastern Region (NER) are giving a boost to “tourism” and “mobility” in the region.

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