Memorandum to Union Civil Aviation Minister regarding growth and prospects of Dibrugarh Airport

A CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH: Dibrugarh Press Club on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia regarding prospects for growth and utilization of the potential for civil aviation at the industrial & communication hub of eastern India, Dibrugarh.

"Dibrugarh Press Club has requested the expedition of the runway extension work and operationalization of the same at Dibrugarh airport. It is understood that the joining of the newly constructed portion with the existing portion of the runway is still not completed despite the project having already overrun several deadlines. Expediting completion and commissioning of the new ATC tower has also been requested," the memorandum stated.

It further added, "Dibrugarh airport needs to be upgraded to an international airport. Dibrugarh being the hub of industry, trade and commerce in entire eastern India with oil & gas, tea, polymer, manufacturing and tourism industries flourishing in and around the city and also due to Dibrugarh's geographic proximity with the fast developing south-east Asia, international flights need to introduced from Dibrugarh to destinations like Paro, Bangkok and Singapore."

"The present terminal building, commissioned in 2009 with 250 outgoing and 250 incoming PAX capacity is presently seen constrained to handle passengers if a couple of flights have to depart or arrive with short differences in schedule. So, keeping with the growth prospects and potential at Dibrugarh, a new integrated terminal building to handle both domestic and international flights at the airport seems the need of the hour," it stated.

The memorandum stated, "Despite having so much potential, it's a pity that no flight operates from the airport in the evening hours. The last flight from the airport departs at 3:10pm. It is also learnt that a number of airlines are keen to introduce evening flights from Dibrugarh, but the airlines are understandably denied the opportunity by some key officials of Airports Authority of India for reasons best known to them."

"A large number of students, patients, working people, business persons as well as domestic and international tourists commute regularly from metros like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai etc. to and from Dibrugarh. But presently Dibrugarh has direct air connectivity with Kolkata and Delhi only. So, daily direct flights need to be introduced from Dibrugarh to Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai immediately. Dibrugarh being an industrially and commercially important city, its air connectivity with the State capital Guwahati also needs to be improved. So daily flights need to be introduced between Dibrugarh and Guwahati," the memorandum said.

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