Itanagar: Leading domestic airlines IndiGo and Indore-based regional airline FlyBig are all set to start scheduled flight service to the Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar.
According to sources Spicejet and Akasa Air also enquired however Indigo & FlyBig are the first to book slots.
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IndiGo airlines will start operations to and from Kolkata while FlyBig to and from Guwahati.
Alliance Air whose focus is regional connectivity is also assessing Dibrugarh, Tezu and Pashighat routes.
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Both IndiGo and FlyBig will operate at this airport using French-made ATR 72 turboprop aircraft.
ATR 72 is known for its reliability in short-haul routes up to 1500 km range.
With full payload, it can cruise at 510 km per hour.
Indigo has already picked local youths and started training on passenger handling.
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Mostly these youths are from those families who are affected by the land acquisition of the greenfield airport.
Technically all operational infrastructure is completed and it is ready to accept the flight, though there is last leg work in progress of installation of lights for night landing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the airport.
The airport project spread over 320 hectares consists of a 2,300-metre runway, a terminal building measuring 5,100 square metres to handle 200 passengers during peak hours, an Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, a technical block and a fire station, with provisions for commercial activities such as a hotel and a convention centre. The apron area is capable of parking two Airbus 320 series aircraft.
This is going to be a game changer for Arunachal Pradesh in terms of connecting the state capital Itanagar, earlier Lilabari airport (Lakhimpur) was used by travellers of the Itanagar area.
(Story reported by Shivam Sarmah from Gohpur)