PM Modi will inaugurate Arunachal’s first Greenfield airport today

The Donyi Polo Airport, the first greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh, will be opened by PM Modi today in Holangi, Itanagar. The AAI spent an estimated Rs 645 crore developing the airport.

The Donyi Polo Airport, the first greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh, will be opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today near Holangi, Itanagar. The Donyi Polo airport was constructed by the Airports Authority of India at an estimated cost of Rs. 645 crore. At the event, he will also dedicate to the country the 600 MW Kameng hydropower station in the West Kameng area.

Today at 9.30 AM, PM Modi will officially open the airport before departing for Varanasi and Gujarat, according to representatives of the state’s civil aviation department. PM Modi opened the renovated Tezu Airport in 2019 and laid the cornerstone for the development of Hollongi’s Greenfield Airport. An official statement claims that the terminal at Hollongi, which has a 4100 sq m area, was built for roughly Rs 955 crore. 200 passengers can be handled at peak capacity per hour.

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The easternmost state of the nation, Arunachal Pradesh, lacks an airport. The closest facility is at Lilabari Airport in North Lakhimpur, Assam, which is 80 kilometres distant. The state has a few high-tech landing areas, including those in Pasighat and Tezu. Flights took launched for the first time in 75 years at airports in five northeastern states: Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland.

Over 690 acres have been used to create the airport, which has cost over 640 million rupees. The airport is excellent for daytime operations in all conditions because to its 2,300 m runway. “The airport terminal is a modern building, which promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy, and the recycling of resources. Donyi Polo Airport will be the third operational airport for Arunachal Pradesh, taking the total airport count in the North-East region to 16. From 1947 to 2014, only nine airports were built in the North-East. In a short span of eight years since then, the Modi government has built seven airports in the North-East,” read the official statement.

Except for Wednesday, flights will run every day between Hollongi, which is 15 kilometres from Itanagar, and Mumbai and Kolkata. Wednesday flights between Hollongi and Kolkata will start operating from December 3, according to Sanjay Kumar, chief strategy and revenue officer of IndiGo.

According to him, this is in keeping with the carrier’s mission to improve connectivity in the Northeast, and the flights are made to accommodate business and leisure travellers who are continuously looking for fresh and reasonably priced flying options to reach places with well-known tourist attractions.

According to AAI General Manager Dilip Kumar Sajnani, in addition to IndiGo, Akasa and Flybig airlines have also showed interest in beginning flying operations from Donyi Polo airport. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has been contacted by Flybig and Indigo, who both showed interest in beginning flight operations. He recently stated that the AAI is hopeful of bringing them on board to begin operations.