Meghalaya: Survey Started for Expansion of Umroi Airport

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya state government has decided to expand the existing Shillong Airport in Meghalaya against the creation of a new greenfield airport in the state and steps are being taken towards the survey for the expansion of the existing project.

The Conrad Sagma-led state government, which was previously considering the idea of a possible new airport in the state with the capacity to land bigger planes has finally decided against the same and moved with the expansion of the existing airport. The idea is to create longer runways to enable the landing and taking off of larger planes.

With the growth of the overall economy of the state, including the tourism sector, the number of tourists visiting the state has increased exponentially over the years. However, its technical limitations hamper the movement of larger aircraft and also limit the number of flight services being served. The operator of the Umroi airport, the Airports Authority of India had also requested the state government to expand its boundaries as well as services.

According to local reports, the government has initiated surveys of the nearby areas to understand the possibility of the expansion of the runways, which will be an essential part of the expansion project.

It can be noted that the Shillong Airport serves a very limited number of destinations given the population of the state. So a huge number of travellers are forced to take the Guwahati airport instead of the one in Shillong to reach their chosen destinations.

It remains to see how long it will take to complete the expansion of the existing project and how long the citizens of the state will have to wait for the same. Earlier this year, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had written to the Minister of Civil Aviation regarding the need to expand both the area and services at the airport so as to cater to the growing passenger demands.

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