GUWAHATI: International flights from the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBI) of Guwahati to six international destinations will resume soon.
The six destinations where international flights from the Guwahati airport will resume are Bangkok, Singapore, Dhaka, Yangon, Kathmandu and Kuala Lumpur.
The aforesaid destinations were earlier introduced under the UDAN scheme. However, these were discontinued due to insufficient passengers and later due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Guwahati-Bangkok flight route was initiated in September 2019 but was halted in January 2020. The Guwahati-Dhaka flight started in July 2020 and continued for only 2 months till September 2020. The Guwahati-Singapore air service was also halted due to the pandemic outbreak in March 2020.
Assam Transport Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that the flights had to be closed down because of the losses incurred due to insufficient passengers. "This time there will be no such discontinuation of international flights even if there are not enough passengers as the Government will be paying for the vacant seats under 'Viability Gap Funding'. 90 percent of the amount will be paid by the Centre and the remaining 10 percent by the State Government," Patowary said.
"The Assam Government has already made a commitment of Rs 100 crores with the Civil Aviation Department in this regard. We have already paid Rs 10.9 crores to the Department under the UDAN scheme," he further added.
On this, the Chief of LGBI Airport Utpal Baruah told G Plus, "We know about the international connectivity from Guwahati but no communication has been made with us by the State Government on any recent development. Since the Transport Minister has announced this development, the process will hopefully start soon."
