A "comprehensive study" to evolve a roadmap to improve air connectivity in the North-Eastern Region has been commissioned by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The study is being sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC).
The study would look into the need and feasibility of having a dedicated airline service for the region. It would also look into the viability of linking all operational airports in North-East, besides looking into the existing airport infrastructure, a senior official from NEC informed.
He added that tenders had been floated to hire a "reputed consultant" to conduct the study. The study is expected to be completed within a time frame of six months.
Two Greenfield airports, one at Itanagar and another at Cheithu, near Kohima, have been also proposed. Studies for greenfield airports at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, and Kokrajhar in Lower Assam, are also underway.
At least 348 flights per week are being operated by various carriers to and from North-East. In addition, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd. (PHHL) provides helicopter services in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Tripura.
There are 23 airports in the North Eastern Region, out of which 11 are operational. The operational airports are – Agartala (Tripura), Aizawl (Mizoram), Dibrugarh (Assam), Dimapur (Nagaland), Guwahati (Assam), Imphal (Manipur), Jorhat (Assam), Lilabari (Assam), Shillong (Meghalaya), Silchar (Assam) and Tezpur (Assam). The civil aviation ministry is planning to operationalise 12 non-operational airports in the region.
