Meghalaya plans Shillong airport upgradation

New Delhi: In a bid to boost tourism and industrial development, the Meghalaya government is working with the Centre to upgrade the Umroi airport at Shillong.
The Umroi airport has the capacity to handle only small aircraft and scheduled operations are restricted to ATR turboprops operated by Air India. The Centre has agreed to extend the runway at this airport to 7,500 metres so that larger planes like Airbus A320 or Boeing B737 can land at Umroi, Meghalaya chief minister DD Lapang told ET. The chief minister has been assured by civil aviation minister Praful Patel that the airport would be upgraded by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The state government is in the process of handing over more land for the airport to AAI and upgradation is expected soon, Mr Lapang said. Alliance Air, a fully-owned subsidiary of Indian, which has now been merged with Air India, had examined the feasibility of deploying B737-sized aircraft at the airport and they found that runway length needed to be increased since the airport is located at the bowl-shaped valley and crosswinds did not allow use of such aircraft without extension of runway. Once the airport is upgraded, Meghalaya plans to seek international connectivity, especially to south-eastern destinations like Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
18/11/07 G Ganapathy Subramaniam/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Nov 2007, New Nov 2007