By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 1: The state government plans to introduce a daily flight between Shillong and New Delhi. Direct flights between Shillong and New Delhi are currently operated twice a week.
Commissioner and Secretary of the Transport Department, Sanjay Goyal said on Monday that the government is exploring additional routes for direct flights to and from Shillong.
Tenders were floated recently for bidders toward introducing direct flights from Shillong to Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad apart from New Delhi.
Appealing to the people to fly from Shillong as it saves money and time compared to using the Guwahati airport, Goyal said the government is subsidizing the flights and a passenger can fly to New Delhi at a fixed rate of Rs 7,000.
He also said that the Airports Authority of India has floated tenders for a technical study to examine if the Shillong Airport can be expanded to facilitate the landing of bigger aircraft.
The report is likely to be submitted to the government within the next six months.
Despite increasing demand, the Shillong Airport can operate only ATR72 aircraft owing to the hills and obstacles around. Removing these obstacles would cost the state government about Rs 7,000 crore.
The audit would help the government find out if expanding the aircraft would be cost-effective, Goyal said.
