Silchar, Sept. 10: Airports Authority of India and Indian Air Force (IAF) have given their nod to the landing and take-off of civilian flights at Kumbhirgram airport, 25km from here.

Sources said the night landing facility was completed around a few years ago, but the IAF, which controls the airport, did not provide a no-objection certificate then citing security reasons.

Regional executive director Anil Kumar Sharma, in a letter dated September 6, 2016, to Cachar deputy commissioner S. Viswanathan, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, said night landing facility at Kumbhirgram airport could now be availed of by civilian flights.

"For availing of night landing facilities, the airline companies have to write in advance about their schedule to the station commander, IAF, Kumbhirgram airport, who has assured to make the facility available along with watchhour operations. The airport director at Silchar airport, too, will provide all the required passenger facilities for such flights," the letter said.

It added, "The airport director has also been advised to write to all the airlines about availability of night landing facilities and operations thereof. The airport director will also request the airlines to initiate operations on the Silchar-Delhi, Silchar-Mumbai, Silchar-Chennai, Silchar-Agartala and Silchar-Imphal routes where good potential traffic demand exists."?

Kumbhirgram airport is one of six airfields in Assam with World War II vintage airstrip legacy. It ranks fourth in the Northeast after Guwahati, Agartala and Imphal, based on traffic density. This 69-acre airport has been under the control of the IAF, which has a helicopter squadron in its station behind the civil aerodrome.

Sources said lighting arrangements to illuminate the airport's runway and terminal buildings at night were commissioned at a cost of Rs 4 crore in 2009.

Sharma, in his letter, also mentioned that Kumbhirgram airport does not come under the regional connectivity scheme under the new National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016.

"This scheme only covers unserved and underserved airports, which at present operate a maximum of seven flights per week. In fact, this scheme is intended only for non-operational or rare operations airports," the letter clarified.

Sharma, however, mentioned that the case of Kumbhirgram airport could be pursued with the Union ministry of civil aviation through the Assam government.

At present, flights of Air India and Jet Airways operate between Silchar and Guwahati, Tezpur and Calcutta, while in the eighties and nineties the airport was linked to Imphal, Agartala and Shillong apart from Calcutta and Guwahati.

Sharma said SpiceJet will start operations between Silchar and Guwahati from October 4 this year. "This will alleviate the problem of monopoly flights and help reduce unfair high air fares in the sector," he said.