By Aafaque Hussain
SHILLONG: Going by the number of passengers hailing from Meghalaya seen at the Guwahati Airport, one gets a clear indication that more flights connecting the Pine City with other major cities of the country is required.
However, till date only one flight (ATR 48) lands at the Shillong Airport at Umroi, the only functional airport in the State and which is currently undergoing an upgradation process since a long runway and other facilities are yet to be installed at the Airport.
Some passengers while talking to this scribe said, “If Shillong Airport has enough flights to other major cities in the country we would no longer have to travel all the way to the Guwahati Airport.”
The Airport Protocol Officer, Guwahati, BC Das, also admitted that the number of passengers from Meghalaya travelling to other parts of the country from the Guwahati Airport was quite significant.
“Around 35-40 per cent of the air passengers travelling from the Guwahati Airport hail from Meghalaya,” Das added.
Another passenger who hails from Shillong told The Shillong Times that more flights to and from the Shillong Airport would largely reduce the burden on passengers who often miss their flights due to severe and regular traffic jams along the Guwahati-Shillong highway.
“My flight was scheduled to take off at 3.30 pm but I had to move from Shillong at 6 am in the morning fearing traffic jam. I was lucky enough not to witness any jam today,” a passenger from Shillong said.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has already approached all the major airline companies to start their services in the Shillong airport but so far none of the airline companies have shown any keen interest to operate flights from Umroi.
When contacted, General Manager Engineering AAI Regional office, Sreekumar, stated that the AAI has already written to major private airline companies for starting their services in Shillong but no one has responded to the call so far.
“We have only come to know that Jet Airways is exploring the possibility of starting their services in Shillong,” Sreekumar added.
According to Sreekumar, the major private companies can begin by operating ATR flights to nearby cities from Shillong like Kolkata.
The Shillong Airport is currently awaiting the installation of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and expansion of the present runway.
If one goes by the word of AAI sources, major airline companies would venture into the State only when all the facilities including re-fuelling station and the ILS are installed in the Airport.
Till then, fliers from Meghalaya would have to brave the heavy traffic congestion on the highway to catch their flights from Guwahati on time.