Exclusive airline for North East soon

Aizawl, Nov 24: The Civil Aviation ministry has decided to approve the proposal of a separate airline for the North Eastern region to improve the communication network, the state aviation officials said here today.

Following the Foundation for Aviation and Sustainable Tourism's (FAST) report, the Ministry had initiated this move, the officials said.

North Eastern Council (NEC) and Development of North East Region (DoNER) have been persuading the ministry for the project since long, sources added.

The officials further said the NEC had commissioned a feasibility study by FAST for setting up an airline, exclusively for NE states, and the report was reviewed by the committee under the chairmanship of Governor S S Siddhu in October.

''The committee has given nod for the project of an airline through public-private partnership to operate in the region,'' officials added.

They further said there should also be provision of minimum subsidy to the airlines through a reverse bidding process to operate the required services in the region.

UNI