Ready for takeoff

Aug. 29: Lilabari airport is looking to soar on the wings of the civil aviation boom.

Established in 1957 on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, the airport has witnessed sporadic bursts of expansion and modernisation of infrastructure during the past few years.

A Rs 40-crore grant from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been utilised to extend the runway to 7,500 metres and instal equipment to facilitate night landings.

The authorities have now drawn up another plan to improve infrastructure at the airport, which caters to people of two districts — Lakhimpur and Dhemaji — and adjacent Arunachal Pradesh.

Uday Shankar Hazarika, the station in-charge and handling agent of Indian, said Alliance Air had slashed the price of tickets on the Lilabari (Lakhimpur)-Borjhar (Guwahati) route to encourage more people to travel by air.

“The price of a ticket between the two destinations was Rs 5,310. It has been slashed to Rs 1,405 with effect from Monday. The 40-seater ATR will operate twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday.,” he said.

The flight will land at Lilabari at 11.30 am and take off at 11.50 am. It is expected to reach Guwahati at 12.50 pm.

Frequent travellers are elated at the prospect of cheaper air travel and better facilities at the airport.

Dipen Bora, a local businessman, said a busy airport would help generate employment for youths and, in the long run, boost the economy.

“It will open doors. We hope that the airport will get a new lease of life with this initiative. We strongly believe that there will be good marketing opportunities given the presence of companies like the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in Arunachal Pradesh,” he added.

Hazarika said private airlines like Kingfisher and Air Deccan had shown interest in launching flights to and from Lilabari. “We had a couple of rounds of discussions with representatives of Kingfisher recently when they came for an assessment. They seemed to be impressed with the facilities available here and assured that they might start operating from Lilabari from early next year. Talks with Air Deccan are on.”

A flying club at Lakhimpur is being planned, too. “We tabled the proposal when the NDA was in power and Shahnawaz Hussain was the civil aviation minister. We hope the AAI will consider our proposal,” Hazarika said.

The airport is manned by a 17-member team, excluding CISF and police personnel.