Fly by night to Northeast

New Delhi: Delhi is planning to upgrade all airports in Northeast and make night landing possible in most of them. The Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport in Guwahati, whose “international” status came minus the facilities, will finally undergo a makeover to match “international standards”.
Three greenfield airports will be set up in Sikkim, Itanagar and Kohima.
The government is also considering a proposal to relax norms to allow airlines operating in the Northeast to connect Guwahati to international destinations.
“We will have instrument-landing systems installed at both Lilabari and Silchar, among other places,” a senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said. The plan to upgrade Guwahati airport to “international standards” will be implemented over the next five years.
For Sikkim, the AAI has drafted a greenfield airport project with a budget of Rs 340 crore. The Sikkim government will contribute about Rs 100 crore and provide land at Pakyong for the airport.
Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland will also get greenfield airports. The AAI has selected sites at Bandardewa, near Itanagar, and Chiethu, near Kohima, for the projects. Both these projects will be taken up during the eleventh Five Year Plan period.
Another plan on the drawing board is to link three tourist destinations — Tawang(Arunachal Pradesh), Kaziranga and Majuli (Assam) — by air. Four defunct airports — Rupsi, Kamalpur, Pasighat and Tezu — will soon be resurrected.
30/05/07 Jayanta Roy Chowdhury/The Telegraph

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Categories: Airports May 2007, New May 2007