Agartala: The withdrawal of ATR aircrafts from the Agartala-Kolkata and Agartala-Guwahati routes by Alliance Air since January 1 has led to a decrease in the number of fliers along these routes while increasing the monopoly of private airlines.
Official sources here confirmed on Wednesday that the move had prevented about 200 passengers from travelling along the two routes in the past two days. At the same time, private airlines have increased the to and fro fares substantially between Agartala-Kolkata and Agartala-Guwahati from Tuesday.
The officials blamed the Union ministry of civil aviation and the Union ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER) for the situation and said a section of officers in the North Eastern Council (NEC) was responsible for withdrawal of the ATR crafts.
Alliance Air, a subsidiary unit of Air India, was operating as many as 10 flights daily in the northeastern states connecting cities in the region with Kolkata. The civil aviation ministry discontinued the service from January 1.
02/01/13 Times of India
