• Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu flagged off Alliance Air’s made-in-India Dornier 228 aircraft in a bid to connect airports and Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) of the northeast region. 

• The flight will be operational from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and finally to Lilabari in Assam.

• The state-run Alliance Air became the country’s first commercial airline to fly an Indian-made aircraft for civil operations. Till now, Dornier 228 planes were used by the armed forces only.

• Alliance Air, a public sector airline company, had signed an MoU with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to operate Indian made Dornier aircraft.

• HAL has been manufacturing Dornier aircraft after transfer of technology from a German firm that owned it, but made-in-India aircraft were not used for civil aviation until now. The 17-seater aircraft is capable of both day and night operations and will connect tier 2 and 3 towns in the region.

• The deployment of Indian made Do-228 will be done in a phased manner. 

• Regular flight operations are slated to start from April 18 on the Dibrugarh-Pasighat-Lilabari-Dibrugarh route.

• The services will be further expanded to Tezu, Mechuka, Ziro and Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh with the Dibrugarh airport as the hub station.

Aviation infrastructure development projects

• The ministry of civil aviation has approved a scheme – ‘Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region’ to promote air connectivity in the region and, if required, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity.

• Under ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)’ and the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), the ministry of civil aviation has identified the northeast region as a priority area. This has helped in enhancing inter and intra connectivity for the region. 

• In this regard, new airports are getting developed and old airports are getting upgraded. Considering the hilly terrain, helicopter operations under UDAN scheme have been given focus for connectivity.

• Today, the northeast region has 15 operational airports. About 18 airstrips, heliports/ helipads, water aerodromes are also awarded under UDAN scheme and are being developed in the region. These aviation infrastructure development projects being undertaken by the ministry of civil aviation will boost tourism, investments and employment in the northeast region.

Scindia inaugurates NE’s first Flying Training Organisation

• The first Flying Training Organisation (FTO) in the northeast region was inaugurated at Lilabari airport in Assam’s Lakhimpur district.

• Scindia, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma formally declared the Redbird Flight Training Academy open.

• Scindia said that another such academy will be set up at Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh.

• Nearly 200 pilots will be trained at the academy where 10 per cent of the seats will be reserved to which Assam government can sponsor aspirants from lower and lower middle-class families.

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