Agartala: With the aim of radically improving air connectivity in India's northeast, fresh bids have been invited for a dedicated airline in the region, a senior official said here Tuesday.
For some time, the North Eastern Council (NEC) and the union ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) have been trying to operate a regional airline to connect selected airports in eight northeastern states.
"The NEC had floated tenders twice to select the airline. Two operators had submitted their bids but none of them could qualify in the technical bids.Fresh expression of interest is being floated for the same," an NEC official told IANS.
"The regional airline will be beneficial for the people of the northeastern region, which lacks adequate air and surface connectivity," the official said, adding that the operator would be offered subsidies from the NEC. With Guwahati as the hub for the new regional airline, there are 11 operational airports in the northeast including Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Silchar in Assam, Dimapur in Nagaland, Agartala in Tripura, Aizawl in Mizoram, Imphal in Manipur and Barapani in Meghalaya.
02/04/13 Daijiworld.com
