Agartala:While protesting withdrawal of Jet Airways flights from Agartala route, CPI(M) Chief Whip in Lok Sabha and MP from Tripura Jitendra Choudhury has demanded an increase of fleets in the state and include Agartala in the Alliance Air circuit.
Before leaving for South America as the Indian Goodwill delegation of Parliamentary Affairs today, Mr Choudhury said though private airlines were not under direct regulation of Ministry of Civil Aviation, it does not mean that they will run only with profit motive.
Operating flights in Northeastern region is a mandate for the private airliners and since they are operating in the region, the companies have been getting benefits from the government and if any company winds up its business from a remote state like Tripura, certainly it is the duty of the Ministry to stop it.
Jet Airways has withdrawn its service from Tripura yesterday leaving out the responsibility to the staff working with them for past many years in the state, and also put the passengers into trouble at a time when the state government is demanding more fleets from Agartala.
“Besides, we have been demanding early morning and late night flights from Agartala at least up to Kolkata to facilitate navel for our people considering the communication bottleneck, as we don’t have sustainable train or bus services to go out of Tripura but the central government doing the reverse,” Mr Choudhury said.
He however, pointed out that the airlines have been functioning with their own whims and decisions without bothering about the countless problems and sufferings of the people of the region, and the central government is also not sincerely thinking on the issues.
After suspension of Jet Airways flight, total air-fleet reduced to nine from Agartala connecting Kolkata, Guwahati, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmadabad. An average of 3,600 passengers are estimated to travel in and out of Agartala via air routes.
The Agartala Airport is currently estimated to generate the second largest air traffic in the northeastern region after Guwahati and it is a legitimate demand to start more flights and regulate airfare, Mr Choudhury said adding that Agartala Airport is all set to elevate to an international airport with regular air connectivity with Dhaka and Chittagong of Bangladesh.
Under the viability gap funding (VGF) arrangement, NEC has signed an agreement recently with Ministry of Civil Aviation to assist Alliance Air to run ATR flights in five cities of Northeast excluding Agartala, due to which Mr Choudhury demanded inclusion of Agartala in Alliance Air route.
Alliance Air operating in Northeastern destinations will get concessions on jet fuel, landing, Route Navigation Facility charges and other costs. VGF is essentially to meet the gap between the actual cost of operations and the revenue earned from the flights.
However, it continued operations between Kolkata-Silchar, Kolkata-Guwahati and Silchar-Imphal with ATR aircraft. In July last year, it also restored to weekly five-time flights on the Kolkata-Shillong route. (UNI)
