Guwahati-Bangkok flight

Close on the heels of launching air connectivity between Guwahati and Dhaka, the government has announced that introduction of direct air connectivity between Bangkok and the Assam capital was also not far away. The government is of the view that once introduced, the Guwahati-Bangkok flight would boost the state’s connectivity with South-East Asia. Assam Industries and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary meanwhile has gone on record saying Guwahati would soon also get air connectivity to Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi and Yangon. It is a fact that while the previous Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had only kept making promises of bringing socio-economic benefits to the Northeastern Region through the Lok East Policy, it was only after the BJP-led NDA’s coming to power five years ago that saw some forward movement in this aspect, and that too after Prime Minister Narendra Modi remodelled the previous Look East Policy and rechristened it as Act East Policy. There are no two opinions on the fact the Northeastern Region is the meeting point of India and South-East Asia. While the Northeast remained in isolation for more than six decades after Independence and was totally cut off from its immediate neighbours, it is only with the proactive approach adopted by the NDA government that the region is slowly beginning to open up. Generations of people across the Northeastern states have grown up without knowing anything much about the countries surrounding it. The only few limited information that was available comprised certain negative concepts, be they about China, Myanmar or Bangladesh. Information about Bhutan, a country that is bounded by Northeastern India on three sides, too was not forthcoming. It was only Nepal which was slightly better known, particularly because there is a huge chunk of Nepal-origin people across the Northeast which has comfortably domiciled here and have contributed to the well-being of the region without creating any problem. But then, one must take the steps cautiously when one is talking about increasing air connectivity between the Northeastern region and the various South-east Asian nations. The government must remember that the experience of introducing a direct Air India flight between Guwahati and Bangkok in 2002 was not very rewarding. All that had happened was that a whole plane-load of people from the region were flying to Bangkok, while there was not even one incoming passenger except the same people from the Northeast who had gone to Thailand the in the previous outbound flight. No wonder that flight had to be soon withdrawn after the government found it to be an immensely loss-making proposition. The economics of the present Guwahati-Bangkok flight on the other hand is slightly better; the reason is – it is only an extension of Druk-Air’s Thimphu-Guwahati flight, with more than half the Bangkok-bound passengers comprising either Bhutanese people, or tourists from other countries flying out from Bhutan to Thailand. The in-bound passengers on this flight are also mostly either Bhutanese nationals returning home, or tourists from other countries taking a relatively cheaper flight to the Himalayan kingdom. As far as the recently-introduced Guwahati-Dhaka flight, it is too early to comment, because it takes at least a year to say whether the passenger flow has become stable and steady. Given this background, it is very important for the government to examine what would be the probable number of in-bound foreign tourists in the proposed Guwahati-Bangkok-Guwahati flight. If it is so that only a couple of hundred people from the Northeast are going on a holiday every week, then it is a bad proposition because then the country or the region only stands to lose instead of earning anything. The government must have conducted some viability study as far as the upcoming Guwahati-Bangkok-Guwahati flight is concerned. So must it be with the proposed air connectivity between Guwahati and cities like Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon and Kathmandu. There has to be a reason for tourists to fly in to Guwahati from those cities. For that, the government has to put in a lot of effort. First and foremost, people across South-east Asia must know about the Northeast, and then find out a reason to come here. Lastly, the government should immediately introduce a direct flight between Aizawl and Guwahati. Right now, people flying between Aizawl and Guwahati are being compelled to fly either through Kolkata or through Imphal, or sometimes through both cities.