Scindia also inaugurates the first Flying Training Organization (FTO) for the North Eastern Region in Lilabari, Assam
Pasighat: The first flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 was flagged off by the Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu here today.
The flight, which will be operational from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and finally to Lilabari in Assam, will connect airports and Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) of Northeast India.
Alliance Air, a public sector airline company, becomes the first commercial airline to fly Indian made aircraft for civil operations. It had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Central Public Sector Unit under the Ministry of Defence, to operate Indian made Dornier aircraft, which is called Hindustan aircraft. The 17-seater aircraft can perform both day and night operations.
The deployment of Indian made Do-228 will be done in a phased manner. In the first phase, 2 Hindustan aircraft 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 to Tezu and after that, within 30 days, air connectivity to Ziro would commence.
Talking about the civil aviation development plans for the Northeast, the Minister said that 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 Rs 67 crores had been allotted for the up-gradation of the airport and work was in progress. Besides, dedicated budgetary support of Rs. 500 crore has been approved by the Ministry for enhancing air connectivity and aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region till March 2024. Out of these Rs. 500 crore, about Rs. 227 crore is earmarked for the 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 budgetary support of Rs. 438.28 crore has just been completed. Another Rs.120 crore would be spent on the development of the runway, taxiway and apron at Agartala airport. At Dibrugarh in Assam, re-carpeting of the airport runway had 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,” Scindia said, adding that in addition to this, about 18 airstrips, heliports/ helipads, water aerodromes were also awarded under the UDAN scheme and were 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scindia today also inaugurated the first Flying Training Organization (FTO) for the North Eastern Region in Lilabari, Assam, along with the Chief Minister of Assam Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma. Lilabari is amongst nine FTOs to be established in five airports in India by June 2022 including Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.
Currently, at Lilabari, Redbird Aviation, which won the right to establish the FTO there, 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.
– global bihari bureau
