Giving wings to Northeast aviation

India’s civil aviation sector has registered significant growth, with cumulative airport capacity rising  from 525 million passengers per annum (MMPA) in 2023-24 to 574 MMPA in the first three quarters of 2025-26. India is placing orders for over 1,600 new aircraft to add to its current fleet of 860 aircraft to cater to the rising demand. Increase in the number of operational airports by more than double over the past decade, and the country setting the target of operationalising 350-400 airports by 2047 is reflective of the investment lined up for expansion of civil aviation infrastructure. Ironically, persistent regional disparity continues to grip the aviation sector in the Northeast region. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture observed “a significant regional imbalance” during scrutiny of the regional distribution of major infrastructure work taken up by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The Committee found that of 23 major ongoing projects with a combined award cost exceeding Rs 10,932 crore, only one project is in the Northeast region – the Imphal International Airport terminal (Rs 421.57 crore), which accounts for only 3.9 per cent of the total expenditure. The parliamentary panel states that this 3.9 per cent share is grossly disproportionate to the region’s needs and also points out that proposals for advanced landing grounds in Arunachal Pradesh have been submitted but not approved. Further observation by the committee that the bulk of AAI’s ongoing capital investment continues to flow to airports in the Northern, Southern and Western regions speaks volumes about aviation infrastructure plans not prioritising the region in the long term. The figures in the committee’s report highlighted that completed projects also reflected concentration in states with established aviation demand, such as Tamil Nadu (5 projects, Rs. 3,352 crore) and Gujarat (4 projects, Rs. 1,657 crore), while three completed projects in the northeast region involved total expenditure of Rs. 1,372 crore. Even when the country’s fleet of aircraft increases, lack of adequate airport facilities will deprive the region of unlocking its potential in the civil aviation sector. Another regional imbalance pointed out by the committees is “severe geographic concentration” in pilot training infrastructure, and it was found that Bihar, with a 130 million population, has one Flying Training Organisation (FTO); Uttar Pradesh, with a 240 million population, has five; but the Northeast region, with a combined population of 46 million, has no FTO. The committee also adds that the cost of pilot training at Rs. 35-50 lakh makes the profession inaccessible to the vast majority. The Ministry of Civil Aviation accepting and implementing the recommendation by the Committee for developing a plan for equitable geographic distribution of FTOs and exploring interest subvention schemes and scholarship programmes funded through a civil aviation development cess will be crucial to end the regional disparity. The region has 98% international borders, and India’s Act East Policy and Neighbourhood First policy have created opportunities for attracting investments, increasing foreign tourist arrivals, and enhancing cargo transportation, provided the airport infrastructure is modernised to cater to modern-day passenger amenities and adequate flight connectivity is established to cut down on travel and transportation time. Besides, vibrant markets like ASEAN perceive the Northeast region as a unified market, and this influences the market forces in member countries of the subregional entity to assess the region’s aviation infrastructure as one interconnected system and not just one or two modernised airports when they explore commercial engagements with an eye on the potential markets in the region. Evidently, when they observe critical gaps in the region’s aviation ecosystem such as inadequate airport infrastructure in different areas of the region, it influences their investment decisions and overall assessment of the market potential of the region. A similar integrated region-wide perspective is also held by key stakeholders in the civil aviation industry, including private airliners and tourism players in the country, and persistence of regional imbalance in aviation infrastructure will continue to affect the region’s competitiveness. The larger picture of civil aviation growth trajectory in the country and exclusion of the region stands at odds with a deeper commitment by the central government to bridge development deficits and connectivity gaps to bring it at par with other developed regions. This calls for focusing more on adopting an integrated approach rather than on announcing and taking up aviation infrastructure projects in silos. Complexities in land acquisition in the region remain a major hurdle in timely execution of new projects or initiating new projects, and the state governments can play the crucial role in expeditious acquisition and handing it over to the AAI in a time-bound manner. The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region strengthening coordination with the state governments can go a long way in removing the bottlenecks in planning and execution. The parliamentary panel’s report serves as a timely reminder for both the central and state governments to prioritise the development of civil aviation infrastructure in order to enhance the Northeast region.