The flight will be operational from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and finally to Lilabari in Assam
The Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu flagged off the first flight of made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 on April 12, in a bid to connect airports and Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) of Northeast India. The flight will be operational from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and finally to Lilabari in Assam.
The event was graced by Kiran Rijiju, Union Minister of Law & Justice, Naresh Kumar, Chief Secretary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Nakop Nalo, Minister (Civil Aviation), Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Goruk Pordung, Health Minister, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gao, Member of Parliament, Arunachal East, Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Swapnil M Nair, Secretary (Civil Aviation), Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Air, R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman, AAI, Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary and Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary from Ministry of Civil Aviation, Vikram Dev Dutt, CMD, Alliance Air, and other dignities from State Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Alliance Air, HAL, Indian Airforce and Airport Authority of India.
Alliance Air, a public sector airline company, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Central Public Sector Unit under Ministry of Defence to operate Indian made Dornier aircraft, which is called Hindustan aircraft. This initiative is in line with the vision of Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi “AtmaNirbhar Bharat”. With this, Alliance Air becomes the first commercial airline to fly Indian made aircraft for civil operations.
The deployment of Indian made Do-228 will be done in a phased manner. In the first phase, 2 Hindustan aircrafts would be stationed at Dibrugarh, to connect Tezu, Pasighat and Ziro. In the second phase of the program, connectivity to Mechuka, Tuting and Vijoy Nagar has been planned. In the coming 15 days, the airline will connect Tezu and after that, within 30 days, air connectivity to Ziro would commence.
Speaking on the occasion, Scindia said, “In the last 70 years, 74 airports were developed but in last 7 years under the visionary leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, we have created 66 new airports taking the total to 140 airports operational in the country. In Northeast, 9 airports were operationalized but today 15 airports are established in the last 7 years.”
Talking about the civil aviation development plans for Northeast, the Minister elaborated “In Arunachal Pradesh, within 6 months, a new greenfield airport in Hollongi will be inaugurated with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 645.63 Crore. At Tezu, 67 crores has been allotted for the upgradation of airport and work is in progress. A dedicated budgetary support of Rs. 500 Crore has been approved by the Ministry for enhancing air connectivity and aviation infrastructure in NER till March, 2024. Out of these Rs. 500 Crore, about Rs. 227 Crore is earmarked for development of ALGs and air connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh, making it 50% of the total budget. At Imphal, the airport would be getting a major up-gradation with a budgetary allocation of Rs. 499 Crore where a new Integrated Terminal Building and other associated work would be taken up. A new Integrated Terminal Building at Agartala airport with a budgetary support of Rs. 438.28 Crore has just been completed. Another Rs.120 Crore would be spent on development of runway, taxiway and apron at Agartala airport. At Dibrugarh in Assam, re-carpeting of airport runway has started with Rs. 55.54 Crore allotted. With all these developments in the airport infrastructure, the air connectivity in NER is going to get a fillip. In addition to this, about 18 airstrips, heliports/ helipads, water aerodromes are also awarded under UDAN scheme and are being developed in NER with the budgetary allocation of about Rs. 182 Crore. In total, more than Rs 2,000 crore will be invested in North East to upgrade and create civil aviation infrastructure by Government of India”
Talking about UDAN scheme, Minister stated “415 routes have been operationalized under the UDAN scheme and over 91 lakh people have benefitted from it. Over 1 lakh 75 thousand flights are flown under this scheme.”
On reduction of VAT on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel), the Minister said that “State Government of Arunachal Pradesh has also reduced the VAT on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) from 20% to 1% after a virtual meeting with Chief Minister Pema Khandu.”
Development of North Eastern Region (NER) is not only of strategic importance, but, also is a part of India’s growth story. Connectivity in NER is very essential and in many places air transport is the lifeline for movement of people and the cargo. Under “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)”, the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has identified NER as a priority area. This has helped in enhancing inter and intra connectivity for the NER. 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. These massive aviation infrastructure development undertaken by Ministry of Civil Aviation will boost the immense potential of NER in terms of tourism, adventure sports and economical activities.
First Flying Training Organization for North Eastern Region inaugurated: Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and the Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the first Flying Training Organization (FTO) for North Eastern Region in Lilabari, Assam on April 12, 2022.
“Assam is becoming the growth engine of Northeast. Lilabari Airport was inaugurated by Former Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the year 2003-2004, and today it is being given due importance by opening of the first FTO in Northeast.”
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Civil Aviation Minister of India
Lilabari is amongst nine FTOs to be established in five airports in India by June 2022 includes Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. M/s Redbird Aviation has won the right to establish the FTO at Lilabari. Airports Authority of India has leased land for the FTO and facilitated statutory approvals from DGCA and BCAS. With the establishment of these FTOs, India will aim to become a global hub for pilot training.
Currently, at Lilabari, Redbird Aviation has stationed 2 aircraft for flying training – Tecnam P2008JC Single Engine and Tecnam P2006T Multi-engine which would eventually be increased to 5 by year end.
In Lilabari FTO, Ground Classes (Online + Offline), Practical flying training, Drone flying training and Simulator training on Alsim Level-5 Simulator and A320 Fixed Base Simulator will take place for Single Batch of 10 students which will be increased to 20. The process for enrolment in the FTO will take place with an online entrance exam which is conducted every few months. Applicants need to be above 18 years of age and should have completed their 12th board exams with English, Physics and Maths. After completing their training, students can be employed in Airlines, Private charter services, Air ambulances, Government pilot jobs, cargo/freighter services.
Speaking on the occasion, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “Assam is becoming the growth engine of Northeast. Lilabari Airport was inaugurated by Former Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the year 2003-2004, and today it is being given due importance by opening of the first FTO in Northeast. With the opening of this FTO, the youth of North East will get the opportunity to attain Vidya (Knowledge) and Gati (Speed). 40 % of our pilots get trained aboard which results in the loss of Rs 500 crore of foreign exchange. To reduce this, we have decided to open up 9 new FTO by this year and in the next stage, 15 new FTOs will be established, taking the current number of FTOs in India from 34 to 58.”
The minister further stated “We have brought a new helicopter policy which has reduced the extra cost of operation, and in Assam, we will establish two new heliports in Geleki and Nagaon in next 2 years. On Guwahati River front, we will establish Umrangso water aerodrome in the coming years. Prior to 2014, we had 74 airports in India but in 7 years, we have established 66 new airports taking the total to 140 airports in the country. In Assam, we had 4 airports in Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Silchar but today we have established 3 new airports in Lilabari, Tezpur and Rupsi.”
Speaking on UDAN scheme and its benefits for Assam, the minister stated, “Guwahati, the capital of Assam has been connected with Durgapur, Varanasi, Dibrugarh in this summer schedule and we will connect it with Bangkok, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Yangoon and Hanoi”
Requesting Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma to reduce state VAT on ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel), Scindia said, “In the past 8 months, I have requested every state government to reduce VAT on ATF and I am delighted to tell you that 12 states have reduced VAT from 20-25% to 1-4% on my request. There are 23 states where VAT is reduced to 1 to 4% and I request Chief Minister to reduce Assam VAT rate so that we can operate more flights to and from Assam. States which reduced their VAT, have seen 15% increase in connectivity in a timespan of 2 months.”
Today, Northeast Region has 15 operational airports as compared to 9 before 2014. About 18 airstrips, heliports/ helipads, water aerodromes are also awarded under UDAN scheme and are being developed in NER. These massive aviation infrastructure development projects being undertaken by Ministry of Civil Aviation will boost tourism, investments and employment in NER.
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