Dimapur: The IndiGo airlines launched a direct flight between Delhi and Dimapur on Saturday. An IndiGo flight, 6E 2433, arrived at the Dimapur airport from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in Delhi.
The IndiGo aircraft from Delhi received a warm welcome with traditional water cannon salutes by spraying arcs of water over the flight. 149 passengers were on board on the first flight. Mughavi Zhimo, Dimapur Airport Director said that this new direct flight between Delhi and Dimapur has received a good response from the passengers. 139 passengers were on board in the departing flight from Dimapur to Delhi.
According to the website of IndiGo, the flight will leave Dimapur Airport at 2.35 PM and arrive at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), New Delhi at 5:35 PM. The travel time taken by the flight is exactly three hours.
While on the other hand, a new-born regional airline, FlyBig started flying direct flights between Delhi and Meghalaya. The Delhi-Umroi-Delhi flight started from December 21. Currently, the flight is weekly, however, it is expected to operate two days a week from January 4 next year.
Umroi airport is located in Meghalaya's Ri-Bhoi district, about 30 km from Shillong city.
FlyBig (Big Charter Pvt. Ltd), India's new scheduled commuter airline was awarded the contract for this route through a tender floated by the Meghalaya Transport Corporation at the beginning of the year.
However, FlyBig does not have its own aircraft on this route. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the airline will take some time to operate its own aircraft. In the subsequent months, additional sectors and flights out of Shillong are planned.
The Meghalaya government, through the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) had floated a tender inviting eligible airline operators to operate direct flights between Delhi and Shillong twice a week for a period of three months.