SHILLONG: With the proposed expansion of the runway at the Shillong Airport at Umroi hitting a roadblock, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is now on a mission to ensure that other projects like the extension of the apron and taxiway is completed at the earliest to revive flight operations from the near-defunct airport.
An official of the Airport said that work was affected due to lockdown and the Monsoon but it has picked up pace.
“We will have four aprons and two taxiways ready by June next year,” the official said while adding that the airport at the moment can handle two flights and once the facilities are in place, the airport would be able to handle four flights in a day.
At the moment, the airport is not connected by any flight.
The Kolkata-Shillong ATR flight which was launched last year was suspended in March this year due to the pandemic.
The airport is currently being used for landing and take-off by air ambulances to transfer seriously ill patients.
The airport is expected to get busy once flight operations begin under UDAN 4.0.
Under the scheme, special focus is being given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Tezpur, Rupsi, Misa, Pasighat, and Shillong.
It may be mentioned that Shillong Airport, also known as Umroi Airport, was constructed in the mid 1960s and started operations in the mid 1970s.
After the acquisition of 224.16 acres of land in 2009, a new terminal building, built at a cost of Rs 30 crore was inaugurated in June 2011 and in 2015, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was allotted land for the further expansion of the airport.
AAI upgraded the airport with installation of an Instrument landing system (ILS), refuelling facilities, runway extension and removal of flight-path obstructions in 2017.
The airport received its Category 3C license from the Indian DGCA in June 2019, allowing operations of Q400/ ATR 72 aircraft.