Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Arunachal Pradesh's first greenfield airport 'Donyi Polo Airport' at Holangi in Itanagar today. The Airports Authority of India has developed the Donyi Polo airport at an estimated cost of Rs 645 crore. He will also dedicate the 600 MW Kameng hydropower station in the West Kameng district to the nation at the function.
PM Modi will inaugurate the airport today and leave for Varanasi and Gujarat from there, officials at the state's civil aviation department informed. In 2019, PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the construction of Greenfield Airport at Hollongi and inaugurated retrofitted Tezu airport. According to an official statement, the terminal at Hollongi has been constructed at approximately a cost of Rs 955 crore with an area of 4100 sq m. It has a peak handling capacity of 200 passengers per hour.
There is no airport in Arunachal Pradesh, the country’s easternmost state. The closest facility is at Lilabari airport, 80 km away in Assam’s North Lakhimpur district. There are a few advanced landing grounds in the state, including in Pasighat and Tezu. Airports in five northeastern states, namely, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland have seen flights take off for the first time in 75 years.
The airport has been developed in an area of over 690 acres, at a cost of more than Rs 640 crore. With a 2,300 m runway, the airport is suitable for all weather day operations. "The airport terminal is a modern building, which promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the recycling of resources. Donyi Polo Airport will be the third operational airport for Arunachal Pradesh, taking the total airport count in the North-East region to 16. From 1947 to 2014, only nine airports were built in the North-East. In a short span of eight years since then, the Modi government has built seven airports in the North-East," read the official statement.
Flights connecting Hollongi, which is around 15 km from Itanagar, with Mumbai and Kolkata will operate daily barring Wednesday. A weekly flight service connecting Hollongi with Kolkata on Wednesdays will begin on December 3, the chief strategy and revenue officer of IndiGo, Sanjay Kumar had said recently.
This is in line with the carrier’s vision to enhance connectivity in the Northeast and the flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options to access destinations that are known for their tourist attractions, he said.
Besides IndiGo, Akasha and Flybig airlines have also expressed interest in starting flight services from Donyi Polo airport, AAI General Manager Dilip Kumar Sajnani said. Flybig and Indigo have contacted the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and have expressed interest to start flight services. The AAI is hopeful of getting them on board to start operation, he said recently.
(With agencies’ Inputs)