Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel asserted that the air services in the North Eastern region has improved a lot in the past one year and said that his Government has taken several initiatives to improve the same.

The Government has plans to link all the capitals of the NE states with air services in the 11th Plan, Patel said. He was speaking at the Economic Editors Conference.

To expand air connectivity on Tier II and Tier III cities, which includes mostly the NE, ones and to promote regional air connectivity. A separate category of permit, Scheduled Air Transport (Regional) Services had been introduced Mr Patel said. The Ministry has given permission for the regional airline and the services would start soon, he said.

To begin with there would be one more airport at Arunachal Pradesh and one in Kohima, the Minister said.

The airport at Umroi would be modernised with a longer 7000 feet runway, which would enable big size planes to land there, he said, adding, once this is completed there can be direct flight of Boeing or Airbus planes to Shillong.

The Minister, however, denied that the planes whether ATR or Air India plying in the region are of old aircrafts. Most of the planes flying in the region are new planes he said clarifying that delays or cancellations of flights in the region might be due to weather conditions or technical snags.

Patel also assured that mandatory reservation of flights to the NE region would continue despite pressure from the private air companies. With expansion of flights and opening up the region, there would be more flights to the region, he said.

Notwithstanding pressures from the private air operators, the Centre is going to continue with the current policy of reservation of certain number of flights to the North Eastern region.

Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel said private air operators are resisting the government rule of reserving certain flights for the region. However, the government is determined to ensure that the policy stays, he asserted.

In the North Eastern region, the management of airport infrastructure, as well as air services is not economically viable, because of low utilisation and low fare structures, it has been argued.

The Minister conceded that the Government of India has been under pressure to reverse its policy of forcing commercial airlines and airport operators to invest in the region. It has been claimed that the policy has distorted the functioning in other areas and affected the operator’s efficient functioning commercially.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Minister assured that all State capitals in the North-East would be connected by air soon. Arunachal Pradesh and Kohima would soon have new airports. Connections to the North-east have doubled and soon it is going to be further increased, he added.

However, he added that focus was on improving passenger capacity in the Region rather than cargo.

Recently, Indian Postal Department in association with the Indian Airlines had started Cargo operation in the region.

Patel, however, denied that old aircraft are being deployed in the region. Six new aircraft are in operation besides four ATR 50 aircraft.

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