Civil Aviation Minister Balo Raja has written to the Centre, requesting the facilitation of more airline operators to offer flights between Itanagar and Delhi and to connect the state capital with other cities, such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
He also urged the union minister to launch daily flights from Itanagar to New Delhi and direct flights from Itanagar to other metro cities.
Currently, IndiGo operates flights from Itanagar to Delhi four days a week under the UDAN scheme. It also connects Itanagar and Kolkata six days a week, while Alliance connects Itanagar with Guwahati.
On the Guwahati-Itanagar route, the minister has sought the deployment of an ATR-72 instead of the Dornier-228.
The unfair pricing of tickets has been questioned multiple times, as fliers sometimes have to pay thousands of rupees, often running into five figures. This defeats the whole purpose of affordable connectivity, as flying remains affordable only for the wealthy.
If the Centre is keen on connecting people, there is an urgent need to introduce more flights. Apart from increasing the frequency of flights, it must also introduce more airlines between important destinations. The monopoly of one airline will not lead to competitive pricing, meaning that flying will remain out of reach for poor patients and students, nor will it lead to the realisation of connecting the border with the mainland.