Meghalaya Umroi Airport to start operating direct Indigo flight to Kolkata from July 20th
Shillong: Meghalaya is going to get direct flight service to Kolkata as one of the leading airlines of the nation, Indigo is to start operating in the state from July 20. The flight services of Indigo are to start from Umroi airport near Shillong to Kolkata. With the initiation of this flight service from now onwards, Meghalaya is going to get directly connected to the rest of the India other than being connected to Guwahati.
Meghalaya transport minister, Sniawbhalang Dhar informed about this new progress in the sector of air connectivity following an inspection of the ongoing works at the Umroi Airport. The Umroi Airport, constructed in Ri-Bhoi district, for the time being, will provide services to the Meghalaya-Kolkata flight and is soon to expand its services by welcoming direct flights from other airports of the nation. As stated by the transport minister to the media, there are proceedings of starting another aircraft is also underway which will provide flight services from Umroi to Raipur via Kolkata. He also informed that the airport is designed to be capable of hosting a few flights for the time being and also expressed that he is not sure whether the airport can later be expanded or not as that would require a huge fund. Big aircrafts could be landed in the airport only if the airport is expanded. According to Dhar, there are a few obstacles in expanding the airport for which they are thinking about building a new airport.
Notably, so far, Umroi airport has been used for operating small aircraft only.
Dhar Said, “As of now we cannot say anything. If upgradation of one airport requires more than Rs 7000 crore, the state government is still under discussion about options – whether to upgrade the airport or go for new ones with less expenditure.”
At present, the Umroi airport has a runway of 6,000-feet and for being capable of landing of big planes it will have to extend the runway to about 8,000 feet.
However, Dhar further added, “Work for extension of the runway has been suspended for a time being because there are some obstacles (hills) that block the runway.”