Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union minister of civil aviation, on Sunday launched three flights on as many new routes, connecting five northeastern cities in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Mizoram. The enhanced aerial connectivity in the mountainous cities of the five states of north-eastern part of the country will play a vital role in creating the ease of living for the residents of region and boosting tourism and trade.

Shillong (Meghalaya) and Ziro (Arunachal Pradesh), as well as the districts near Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, where the state’s first full-fledged airport will also soon be opened at Hollongi, will be connected by two flights from Lilabari Airport in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, which borders Arunachal Pradesh.

Visually Slide: Alliance Air New Flights in South and Northeast India

The third flight will link Imphal with Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram (Manipur). Scindia said the Alliance Air flights would significantly improve living conditions for locals, increase tourism, and stimulate business. Seven airports had been built in the northeast during the past eight years, emphasising the Union government’s unique commitment on improving aviation connectivity in the area. “14% routes under the UDAN plan and roughly 18% routes under UDAN 4.2 have been granted to the northeast,” he added, noting that a Rs 500 crore corpus has been set aside for the region’s air connectivity.

While the Shillong-Lilabari-Shillong flight will operate four times per week, the Imphal-Aizawl-Imphal flight began operating on Sunday and will operate five times each week. Both will fall under the regional connectivity programme UDAN, where the governments of the state and the union will pay for part of the cost of the airline tickets.

Shillong – Lilabari – Shillong (Under RCS UDAN) : 31st October 2022

Imphal – Aizawl- Imphal (Under RCS UDAN): 30th October 2022

Scindia declared that two additional routes – Imphal-Mandalay-Imphal and Agartala-Chittagong-Agartala – will be operationalized under International UDAN, directly connecting the northeast with Bangladesh and Myanmar via commercial planes.

The flight will be operated by Alliance Air and will be conducted as per the following schedule:

Lilabari – Ziro – Lilabari: 30th October 2022

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, Pema Khandu, N Biren Singh, the chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, Conrad Sangma (through a pre-recorded video message), Kiren Rijiju, the minister of law for the Union, and Gen. Vijay Kumar Singh (ret. ), the minister of state for civil aviation, also attended the virtual ceremony.