Pasighat beams after Alliance Air test flight

Pasighat beams after Alliance Air test flight

Our correspondent

Itanagar, April 24: The long wait of the people of Pasighat and the adjoining areas of East Siang district ended on Monday with the Alliance Air successfully conducting its test flight.

The ATR-42 of the Alliance Air landed successfully at Pasighat Airport from Guwahati with officers of the airlines on a proving test flight, paving the way for the operation of commercial flights, official sources said.

The Alliance aircraft with its crew members reached Pasighat from Guwahati in about 2 hours 20 minutes.

The team, along with crew members led by Vikash Sharma, Chief of Flight Safety Alliance Air, Flight Inspector of Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) N S Lohan and Alliance Air Coordinator T K Saha, was accorded warm welcome by State Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Management Kaling Moyong, State Civil Aviation Director T Messar, East Siang DC Tamiyo Tatak and SP Prashant Gautam among others.

“It was a lovely flight to Pasighat. We are really proud that we are making history. People of the State are really going to enjoy Alliance Air,” Flight Inspector Captain N S Lohan said.

Lohan appreciated the runaway and infrastructure of the terminal building and wished the best for future operations in opening up to the rest of the country in air connectivity.

Moyong expressed his happiness on the successful test flight to Pasighat by Alliance Air and added that the long- felt demand for operation of passenger flights has taken shape with the inaugural flight.

“This is a really historic moment for the people of the State,” Moyong said and asked the Civil Aviation department for time-bound completion of the administrative building of the Airlines for station manager, engineering wing and stock room.

The MLA also requested for additional operation of Pasighat – Dibrugarh – Guwahati flight services on need basis.

Commercial flights will start operating from Pasighat shortly with the completion of formalities of submission of reports by the team and its clearance from the DGCA.

Under regional connectivity scheme UDAAN, the Union Civil Aviation ministry awarded the Alliance Air the route from Kolkata to Pasighat via Guwahati, while Zoom Air and True Jet were allotted the route to Tezu in Lohit district. Zoom Air and True Jet would fly to Tezu via Pasighat and expected to start their services in August this year.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said a new chapter in the history of Arunachal Pradesh has begun with the successful test-landing of the Alliance aircraft – ATR 42 at civil terminal of the Pasighat advanced landing ground around 12.30pm on Monday.

 “Soon, the first civilian aircraft will fly off from Pasighat and I am optimistic that the same will follow in various ALGs of the State. This may look a simple step to many but it’s a giant leap for us,” Khandu said in a statement

The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is taking special care of Arunachal Pradesh and the North East in all spheres of development especially in the connectivity sector.

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com