Old air strips in NE to be reopened

Aizawl, Sep 20 (UNI) Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has initiated a project to reopen smaller airports and air strips, some dating back to the Second World War era, for flight operations in north eastern region.

The project aims to launch a dedicated air service in the North-East in joint venture with North Eastern Council (NEC) and a few private operators to cater to remote and inaccessible areas in the region, DoNER ministry sources told UNI here today.

At present only Guwahati and Agartala airports have night landing facilities. Runways in most of the airports in the northeastern states are insufficient in length and strength for operation of air bus.

About 12 airports in the region have been identified for improvement at a cost sharing basis with Airport Authority of India (AAI) in 60:40 ratio.

The proposed airports to be modernised are Guwahati, Aizawl, Imphal, Dimapur, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Lilabari, Silchar, Agartala, Kamalpur, Kailashahar and Shillong.

Apart from this, the aircrafts being shorlisted for operations in these airports include the 19-seater Beach aircrafts, which have pressurised cabins.

UNI BB-SNR TJP CS DS1412