Our Reporter
Dimapur, Nov. 29 (EMN): Even as the fate of Air India remains uncertain, its subsidiary, Alliance Air is set to operate ATR flights from Dimapur to Guwahati and Imphal, starting December 7.
On November 27, Union Minister for Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri had told Rajya Sabha that Air India Ltd. might have to shut shop if the government fails to privatise the airline.
The director of Dimapur Airport, Mughavi Zhimo confirmed to Eastern Mirror that he has received a letter from Air India informing that flights will operate from December 7.
According to Zhimo, the new flights were under the Regional Connectivity Scheme-Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (RCS-UDAN), which was a primary initiative of the Governor RN Ravi even though the sector was awarded with the scheme “long time back.”
The flights are scheduled to operate thrice a week—Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The director further informed that rates for the ATR flights will be lower than the rate fixed by the government of Nagaland. Bookings will commence shortly, he added.
The RCS-UDAN is a government of India scheme aimed at making air travel affordable for the common man. After concessions from the state governments at their respective RCS-UDAN airport, the following measures are required to be undertaken: reduction of VAT (or GST after it became operational) to 1% or less for 10 years; coordinate with oil companies to create fuelling infrastructure on airports; provide free land for development of airport, with multimodal (rail, road, metro, waterways, etc.) hinterland connectivity.
It may be noted that Alliance Air flights from Dimapur to other Northeast states were functioning few years ago but due to “airline commercial and operational reasons” they were stopped, Zhimo informed.
