By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The much-hyped state of the art terminal of the Shillong Airport at Umroi, constructed at a budget of around Rs 25 crore has been gathering dust since no aircraft has landed at or taken off from the Airport since January.
The Airport has been wearing a deserted look ever since Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, decided to withdraw its flights from seven Northeast airports, including Tezpur, Lilabari and Umroi in January.
The North East Council (NEC) has already floated a fresh Expression of Interest (EoI) for running flights to and from the Shillong Airport. A deadline of February 15 has been set for the airlines to respond to the EoI.
When this scribe contacted NEC Secretary UK Sangma to seek his opinion on whether Indigo Airlines, which had recently introduced a flight on the Guwahati-Agartala route, can operate the same via Shillong, the official was reluctant to comment anything on the matter. “Ask them,” he told this scribe.
Earlier, five private operators had attended the pre-bidding exercise include two scheduled operators and three non-scheduled ones. They are Pawan Hans, Indo Power Projects, Quickjet Cargo, Seven Sisters Airlines and Northeast Shuttles.
Kolkata-based North East Shuttle, a private airline service provider had launched a flight to and from the Shillong Airport in 2008 with a nine-seater aircraft.
To a query on why Northeast Shuttles had failed to continue its service in Meghalaya, the NEC Secretary yet again refrained from answering the same.
Alliance Air, while suspending its service in N-E region had blamed the North Eastern Council (NEC) for failing to pay pending dues to the state-owned carrier.
However, the NEC clarified that the decision to scrap the agreement signed with Air India to continue the service of Alliance Air in the region, was a unanimous decision taken by the Chief Ministers and Governors of the various Northeastern states during the 61st NEC Plenary held in June, 2012.