By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The state government is making all possible efforts to convince Air India to start direct flights from Shillong Airport to Kolkata.
Informing this here on Tuesday, Transport Minister AT Mondal said at present flights from the airport take the route via Jorhat thus discouraging the passengers who want to avoid the three-hour journey to Kolkata.
“Nobody would like to fly from Shillong to Kolkata via Jorhat. So people prefer to board the flight from Guwahati since it is more convenient,” he said.
According to Mondal, it has been observed that the number of passengers was very high when there were direct flights from Shillong Airport to Kolkata due to the repair work at the Jorhat Airport recently.
“Taking this into consideration, we are pretty sure that more people would like to board the flight from the Shillong Airport if we have the direct flight to Kolkata,” the Transport Minister said.
Meanwhile, Mondal also informed that the government has managed to clear ‘the three major hurdles’ which restricted the operation of bigger flights at the Shillong Airport.
“The first major hurdle of expansion of the
runway at the airport is being taken care of and the process of acquisition of land is going on at present,” Mondal said.
According to the Transport Minister, the government has also convinced the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for installing the Instrument Landing System (ILS) in the airport.
“The AAI has already submitted the proposal for installing of the ILS in the Shillong Airport to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). We are hoping that the ILS would soon be installed at the airport,” Mondal said.
The problem of absence of a refilling station in the airport has also been resolved with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) agreeing to set up a station there.
“We are happy that the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has agreed to set up the refilling station. Initially, there was concern over the location for setting up the same. But the issue has been resolved after a convenient space was identified for the purpose,” the Transport Minister said.