| GUWAHATI: Over 465 Lifeline UDAN flights have covered 4, 51,038 km to deliver more than 836 tonnes of air cargo in the country, of which about 350 tonnes have been delivered to the Northeast during the lockdown period till Thursday.
The air cargo goods include mostly medical items comprising personal protective equipment, medicine, masks and other essentials to help the government contain the coronavirus outbreak. “All Northeast Region airports were open for emergency and essential flight movement including air ambulances from March 25, 2020, the day when the government started Lifeline UDAN flights in the country to support the chain of supply of medical items. Our airports are operational for these essential services every day with minimum manpower maintaining all sanitisation, hygiene and human distancing practices,” Airports Authority of India (AAI) regional executive director, Sanjeev Jindal, said. AAI has been continuously providing air navigational and on ground services for the Lifeline UDAN flights enabling smooth and timely flow of medical goods and supporting items to the states of the region. The LGBI airport here and MBB Airport in Agartala have been the major hubs for the Lifeline UDAN flights where majority of the flights land to cater air cargo services. “At LGBI Airport, more than 1,47,353 kg of air cargo has been received till May 5, 2020 and about 21073 kg of air cargo has been dispatched to other locations excluding 18019 kg of international cargo,” Jindal said. Other airports where regular Lifeline UDAN flights operate include Dibrugarh, Lilabari, Jorhat, Silchar and Tezpur in Assam, Dimapur in Nagaland, Imphal in Manipur. However, helicopter services are also operational catering to remote and higher altitudes like Arunachal Pradesh and Shillong in Meghalaya. “Apart from dedicated freighter services, Indian Air Force, Air India, Alliance Air, Pawan Hans (helicopters), Spicejet, Indigo, Blue Dart have operated their air cargo services in the Northeastern states,” Jindal said. Moreover, AAI is also distributing food grain, face masks and other dry ration to the most affected people during the lockdown at all the North East airports reaching out to about 1000 families at each airport.
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Lifeline UDAN flights deliver 350 tonnes cargo to NE during lockdown
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