Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 8 Sep: The greenfield airport in Hollongi finally received the aerodrome licence from the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday.
The DGCA said that the licence is “for public use for visual flight rules (VFR) day operations.”
“The new aerodrome meets reference code 4C and is designed for operation of Airbus 320/A319 type or equivalent aircraft,” it said.
Announcing the receipt of the licence, Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday tweeted from his social media handle: “It speaks volumes of our perseverance to transform every promise into action. The DGCA grants aerodrome licence to AAI for Hollongi airport, paving way for passenger flight services.”
“Gratitude to Hon PM Shri @narendramodi Ji for his continuous support and guidance,” Khandu added.
Civil Aviation Secretary Swapnil M Naik informed The Arunachal Times that the airport will become fully operational from the third week of October.
“For full operations, it will start from third week of October when winter schedules of airlines become operational,” he said.
Naik added that the airlines are preparing their schedules. “They were waiting for the licence. Within the next 15 days, some schedules will be filed,” he said.
“The soon-to-be inaugurated airport is going to connect Arunachal Pradesh with other major cities in the country. It will help boost tourism and will spur economic growth of the Northeast Indian state,” Naik added.
