New Delhi: The ‘Made in India’ civil Dornier aircraft maiden’s flight to commence today providing air connectivity to remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh. HAL Dornier Do-228 will be flagged off from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh today.
Alliance Air, in an official statement, explained that this flight will help boost connectivity in the northeastern states. It added that it will be India’s first commercial airline to operate an Indian-made aircraft for civil operations. the 17 seater non-pressurized Dornier 228 with an AC cabin is capable of day and night operations facilitating regional connectivity in the Northeastern province of the nation. ALliance air will initially operate from Dibrugarh to Pasighat. In the next 15 days, it will fly from Tezu and Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh in the first phase.
The HAL’s transport aircraft division in Kanpur has ventured into the manufacturing of Hindustan-228 aircraft to support the central government’s UDAN scheme. This aircraft can be utilised by civil operators and state governments for interstate connectivity. In February, the Centre-run Alliance Air had signed a pact with government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. the MoCA had approved a scheme- “Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region (NER)” to promote air connectivity in the states of North Eastern Region and, if requires, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity. “
The event will be attended by the Civil Aviation Minister and the CM of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Hemant Biswas and Pema Khandu.