Poor infrastructure at Dibrugarh airport

Dibrugarh: Any casual visitor to the Dibrugarh airport at Mohanbari here would first be impressed by the swank new terminal, opened for the public recently. But the impression is short lived, as one comes to know of the serious flaws of the airport. To begin with, the length of the runway, at 6,000 feet is woefully short to facilitate operation by bigger aircraft. No civilian flights are allowed to land or take off after 4 PM, as the airport does not have night landing facilities. This factor has become a major obstacle in plying of adequate number of flights at schedules that would be convenient to the passenger.
The airport here is the country’s easternmost, and there is enough scope to develop it as a part of the much hyped “Look East Policy”. However, the powers that be have ensured that the Dibrugarh airport is a truncated facility, and of little use to businessmen and corporate executives.
With the weather getting foggy at Delhi, flights to Dibrugarh are the worst affected, as late take-offs from Delhi hardly allow pilots to land and take-off from Dibrugarh within the “sunset rules” (4 PM deadline). As a result, passengers to upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have to travel upto Guwahati by air and then make other arrangements for the remainder portion of their journeys. This makes it very inconvenient for the elderly and the infirm.
The length of the runway at the Dibrugarh airport is scheduled to be extended from 6000 feet to 7500 or 9000 feet in the days ahead. A major hurdle in the work was to get the required land,the airport ’s adjacent areas belong to the Defence Ministry.
25/01/10 Ron Duarah/Assam Tribune.com

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010