By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: After Alliance Air stopped its services from the Shillong Airport at Umroi, air connectivity in Meghalaya has come to a grinding halt since no flight is operating from the Airport.
The Airport has been wearing a deserted look ever since Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, decided to withdraw its services from Tezpur, Lilabari and Umroi airports in January this year.
Soon after the withdrawal of service, the North Eastern Council (NEC) floated a fresh Expression of Interest (EoI) for airline services to and from the Shillong Airport and was hoping that services would be resumed from April 1.
However, only two bidders – North East Shuttles and Seven Sisters Airlines – have responded to the EOIs.
General Manager Engineering AAI Regional office, Sreekumar, while talking about resumption of air service from the Umroi Airport, expressed confidence that big airline players would be interested in venturing into smaller routes like Shillong, Tezpur and Lilabari.
Sreekumar, however, pointed out that first of all lingering problems like construction of boundary walls, expansion of the runway and installation of the air traffic control system needs to be addressed so that the expansion of the Airport can take place to invite major players.
It may be mentioned that till date air passengers from the State are forced to travel to Guwahati to board their flights. The AAI official informed that the number of air passengers from Shillong flying out from Guwahati ranges between 50 and 100 every single day.
The Planning Commission last year had approved Rs 28.45 crore for upgradation of the Shillong Airport to be utilized for development of additional infrastructure facilities.
However, nothing has come up so far and even the construction of the boundary wall was stalled by the land owners due to non-payment of their land compensation.
The State Government had handed over 224 acres of land for expansion of the runway from the existing 6000 feet to 7500 feet to facilitate landing of bigger aircraft but the expansion plans are yet to be implemented.