Int’l airlines reluctant to operate from NE

New Delhi: There may be a clamour for resumption of international flights out of Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, but there are few takers among the international airlines to operate from the North-east. Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel today clarified that Guwahati is available as a point-of-call to the designated airlines of Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
“However, actual operations by any airline is guided by its commercial judgements,” he concluded.
“Taking into consideration the current international traffic at Guwahati Airport, existing infrastructure is sufficient to handle international operations efficiently,” Patel said in response to a question by Anwar Hussain.
The suspension of international flights by Air India after a couple of years of operation of the Guwahati-Bangkok flight had led to protests in the region. The Central Government has since been dilly-dallying on restarting the international flight operations.
The scrapped Guwahati-Kolkata-Mumbai-Bangkok flight was started in April 2002 by Air India with much fanfare. However, the euphoria was short-lived. Air India cancelled the lone international flight in 2003 after 18 months of operations claiming heavy losses.
19/02/09 Assam Tribune

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Categories: Airports Feb 2009, Foreign Feb 2009, New Feb 2009