Arunachal Pradesh CM Urges More Flights to Meet Demand

Flight Demand Skyrockets in Arunachal Pradesh

Chief Minister Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh urged the Centre on Tuesday to increase flight connectivity from the neighbouring Donyi Polo Airport in an attempt to improve connectivity, tourism, and business in the northeastern state. According to Khandu's letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Donyi Polo Airport only offers one flight to Kolkata (six times weekly) and New Delhi (four times weekly).

According to him, these flights frequently run at full capacity, which frequently causes sharp increases in travel costs and the unavailability of tickets for potential passengers, especially in situations involving emergencies like medical situations. Additionally, visitors and tourists find it more difficult to get around when there are no daily flights, frequently forcing them to look for alternative travel options. According to him, passengers from Itanagar to Bhopal and Kochi cannot travel on the same day, necessitating an extra night's stay in New Delhi or Kolkata.

The stopover from Itanagar to Bengaluru is six hours, and the layover from Itanagar to Ahmedabad is five hours and twenty-five minutes, according to him. FlyBig had been operating flights between Itanagar and Guwahati under the UDAN initiative since November 2023; the chief minister also expressed regret over this development. He urged the federal minister to expand flight service from Itanagar to Kolkata and New Delhi and to start operating flights again between Itanagar and Guwahati as part of the RCS-UDAN program.

Concurrently, Khandu wrote to Rahul Bhatia, the Group Managing Director of IndiGo, requesting more flights to Delhi, ideally departing from Itanagar in the morning. He also asked for direct flight connections between Itanagar and other significant cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

The people of Arunachal Pradesh have benefited greatly from this initiative, Khandu added, thanking IndiGo for running the first flight from the Donyi Polo Airport and for regularly linking Itanagar to Kolkata and New Delhi.