NEW DELHI: All important towns and capitals of Northeastern states, including Shillong, will now be connected by flights with each other besides being connected by air to Kolkata and commercial hub Silchar.
Under the ambitious UDAN scheme, Shillong will have flights to seven NE towns — Guwahati, Agartala, Dimapur, Imphal, Pasighat, Dibrugarh and Silchar.
The Assam capital Guwahati will also have flights to Tezu, Tezpur, Misa, Rupsi and Pasighat.
Other routes include Tezu- Imphal, Rupsi- Kolkata, Aizawl- Tezpur, Agartala- Dibrugarh, Misa (Heliport)- Geleki and Geleki – Jorhat.
Overall, 766 routes have been sanctioned so far under the UDAN scheme, the announcement said.
Commenting on this development, Usha Padhee, joint secretary, ministry of civil aviation, said, “Following the three successful rounds of bidding, the Ministry had launched the 4th round of UDAN in December 2019 with a special focus on NE region, hilly states, and islands.
The awarding of these 78 routes under UDAN 4 is in line with the Act East Policy of the Central Government, it added. The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF under the Scheme.
Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopters and seaplanes has also been incorporated. Since its inception, the ministry has operationalised 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and three heliports.
The fourth round of bidding under the UDAN commenced on December 3 last year.
The scheme sought to connect unserved and underserved airports as well as make flying more affordable.