The three new flights include the Itanagar-Mumbai flight via Kolkata which will be operated by IndiGo. The flight operation started on 28 November. Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Ziro flight operated by Alliance Air started on 29 November. The Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Pasighat flight would also be operated by Alliance Air on 30 November.
Itanagar-Mumbai flight:
This is the first flight from Donyi Polo Airport at Hollongi, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. Itanagar is the 75th domestic and 101st overall destination in the IndiGo network. IndiGo said the second frequency between Kolkata and Itanagar will commence on December 3.
Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Ziro route and Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Pasighat flights:
A Dornier 228 aircraft, manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), took off from Dibrugarh at 10.20 am and landed at the newly constructed Hollongi airport in Itanagar at 11.10 am yesterday (29 Nov). The aircraft then left from Itanagar at 11.30 am to reach Ziro at 12.05 pm. The second service covering Dibrugarh, Itanagar, and Pasighat is set to commence on Wednesday. Both services will be available twice every week.
Earlier this month Scindia inaugurated three other flights that connected five northeastern states--Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram.
Two of the three flights on routes Imphal-Aizawl-Imphal; Lilabari-Ziro-Lilabari, and Shillong-Lilabari-Shillong routes operate under the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
In his inaugural address, Scindia on Tuesday said that in the last eight years, the Modi government has prioritized the Northeastern states unprecedentedly.
“It is the vision of the Prime Minster to provide air connectivity to each corner of the country and we are working in collaboration with each state to materialize it. Not only the major cities but the advanced landing grounds in the remote areas of tier 2 and tier 3 cities will also be connected," he said.
Minister appreciated the state government of Arunachal Pradesh for reducing the VAT on ATF and said that it has resulted in a rapid increase in air connectivity.
He assured that not only in the major cities but advanced landing grounds in remote areas will also be connected. He also assured that Vijay Nagar, Mechuka, and Tuting are under development and will be connected soon.
Separately, Scindia on Monday flagged off flight operations of IndiGo from New Delhi, which connects Itanagar to Mumbai via Kolkata.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated Donyi Polo Airport in Arunachal Pradesh and today is the historic day that we are inaugurating flight services from two metro cities to Itanagar," Scindia said.
The minister also said the efforts are on to make the Northeastern states the growth engine.
Flights from Imphal to Mandalay and from Agartala to Chittagong will be started soon as part of enhancing international air connectivity in the region, he said.
Imphal is in Manipur and Mandalay is in Myanmar while Agartala is in Tripura and Chittagong is in Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Donyi Polo Airport on 19 November. It is the fourth operational airport in the state.
'Donyi' means the sun and 'Polo' means the moon.
The airport, also the first greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh, has been developed in an area of over 690 acres at a cost of more than ₹640 crore.
The Aviation Minister took a jibe at the previous UPA government saying, "Why more airports were not built before 2013-14... After 2013-14, now there were only 9 airports in the North-East, at present in eight years there are 16 airports in the Northeast."
Air connectivity with all the states in the country is a mission and will continue till all the airfield in the country is connected with flight operations, Scindia said.
