New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation is upbeat to enhance the air connectivity in the North-east region by introducing indigenous Dornier-228 aircraft.

The Union Minister of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday launched the first indigenously-made Dornier 228 flight from Dibrugarh district of Assam to Pasighat district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Speaking to ANI, Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation said, “Northeast state connectivity is a priority under Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN). We have taken the northeast as our priority area to connect various places with either fixed-wing or helicopters. Our major thrust is also Arunachal Pradesh, which is the biggest state in the north-eastern region”.

The MoCA has further plans to connect other parts of Arunachal Pradesh like Tezu, Ziro, Mechuka, Tuting and Bijoynagar with this route to enhance regional connectivity under its UDAN Scheme.

“Arunachal Pradesh has a lot of Advanced Landing Grounds that can take only the 20-seater aircraft. So, India made Dornier, the HAL made Dornier is more suitable for the regional connectivity that has been incorporated now and it has been inducted into the fleet of Alliance Air. So, two aircraft, Dornier-228, which are completely India made, which is in the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat, we have dedicated these two aircraft for connecting Arunachal Pradesh especially, and also some of the north-eastern stations” said Padhee.

She added, “So, we hope that with this aircraft we will be able to have a hub and spoke model, intra and inter-regional connectivity of the northeast region can be tackled and we are very hopeful that this will bring a lot of relief to the remote areas in the northeast region”.

With the enhancement of new air routes and infrastructure, the North-east region will develop connectivity with the rest of the country.

With these aircrafts connecting Arunachal Pradesh and other stations of the north-eastern region, we will take away a lot of hardships that people are facing in those regions.

“Going ahead, MoCA is developing infrastructure, we are also developing various helipads there and we will make sure that every nook and corner in the north-eastern region is connected with some efficient mode of transportation in which air transportation plays a very significant role,” said Usha Padhee.