Shillong: Shillong Airport is now gradually seeing more activity with more flights scheduled in the months ahead, making it another busy airport in the northeast region, while more parking bays for aircraft are on the cards, officials said here on Monday.
According to Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials, as per the summer schedule, which is already enforced, movement of around 300 flights would take place from the airport in the coming months.
An AAI official said that in February, 264 flights with 7,766 passengers operated from the Shillong airport while 291 flights with 9,817 passengers operated in March.
In April, over 294 flights with over 10,000 passengers operated from the airport, where two more parking bays are expected to be made operational in two months.
Following this upgrade, the airport would be able to accommodate four flights at a time which would eventually lead to an increase in the movement of flights.
As of now, Shillong Airport is connected to several cities like New Delhi, Kolkata, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Aizawl, Agartala, Guwahati, Dimapur, Silchar and Lilabari.
Many of the cities have also been connected to Shillong under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik)-RCS (Regional Connectivity) scheme.
The AAI, in a tweet, said: “Shillong the capital city of Meghalaya state is a prime tourist destination in North East India. This city offers numerous breathtaking viewpoints, waterfalls and hills to travellers and hence is known as the ‘Scotland of the East’ for its astonishing natural beauty.
“The Shillong airport would be the other busiest and important airport in the northeast in terms of flight operations and volume of passengers.”
Currently there are 17 operational airports in the northeast region — Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur, Lilalabari and Rupsi (Assam), Tezu, Pasighat, Ziro and Donyi Polo Airport (Arunachal Pradesh), Agartala (Tripura), Imphal (Manipur), Shillong (Meghalaya), Dimapur (Nagaland), Lengpui (Mizoram) and Pakyong (Sikkim).
Guwahati and Imphal airports are currently the two international airports in the northeast, while Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram airport became ready to operate international flights after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new integrated terminal building on January 4 last year.
