Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has asked Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma to personally look into ‘expeditious operationalization’ of the Tura airport. 

“…Scindia has requested for personal intervention of Shri Conrad K Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, in expeditious operationalization of Tura Airport,” a statement from the union civil aviation ministry said. 

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Scindia said that the union civil aviation ministry has launched RCS – UDAN to enhance regional air connectivity from unserved and underserved airports in the country by making air travel affordable to the masses. 

“Tura airport figures in the tentative list of unserved airports. Bids for Helicopter operations have been received for two RCS routes i.e., Shillong to Tura vv and Guwahati to Tura vv in special round of bidding 4.1 and the same is likely to be finalised soon as per the provisions of Scheme document,” the statement added. 

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The statement adds: “He (Scindia) has drawn attention of Shri Sangma to following issues:  

  1. On request of Meghalaya Government to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for taking over the Tura Airport, AAI had forwarded a draft MOU to State Government in 2013.
  2. Subsequently, for expansion and development of airport for operationalization of ATR-72 type of aircraft, AAI submitted proposal for acquisition of 56.5 acres of land and a DPR with development cost of Rs.183.63 Crores to State Government vide letter dated 12.06.2017. State Government vide letter dated 18.08.2020 informed that survey is complete and process of obstacle removal is being initiated. AAI vide letter dated 18.09.2020 requested for additional information regarding existing infrastructure, land, finance, traffic demand and action plan.
  3. As per Air Safety requirement, provision of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of 240 m x 60m is recommended and VFR operation with Simple Approach Lighting (SAPL) is proposed in Phase-1 along with City side infrastructure, runway extension. So an additional land of 68.5 acres needs to be acquired. Thus, total land area Of 125 acres need to be acquired and handed over to AAI, free from all encumbrances and free of cost, for development of Phase-I the airport.
  4. Further, for IFR operations with ILS and CAT-1 Lighting System, additional land of 115 Acre may be reserved by State Government.”