Arunachal Pradesh has marked another historic development after the ‘Made-in-India’ civil Dornier 228 aircraft of Alliance Air made a successful trial landing at the Ziro airstrip in Lower Subansiri District on Thursday.
The plane had taken off from Dibrugarh , Assam had senior flight operation inspector Captain Vijay Kumar, pilots Captain Trilok Singh Negi and Captain Nishit Tare and a cabin crew member on board and then the 17-seater aircraft landed at the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Ziro at around 12.30 pm.
As per reports the twin-engine Dornier aircraft is an upgraded version of Vayudoot aircraft which operated at Ziro ALG 20 years back.
While to reach from Dibrugarh to Ziro the aircraft took 50 minutes as the pilots had to strictly follow the “laid down air traffic routes”.
Also Captain Kumar informed that soon an ‘Aerodrome Certificate’ will be issued to Ziro ALG by the directorate general of civil aviation after which commercial flights can start operating.
However he also mentioned that regarding issues of safety, security and smooth flight operations at the ALG, the rapid increase in high-rise buildings near the ALG and the tall trees at Dolo Mando forest range are the potential threats to the flight operations.
Ziro ALG is the third in Arunachal Pradesh after Tezu and Pasighat, where the Dornier aircraft will provide fixed-wing passenger services to the people.
This remarkable development comes a year later after an agreement was signed between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Alliance Air to lease out Dornier DO-228 for their operation in the landlocked areas of Arunachal Pradesh, under the Civil Aviation Ministry’s UDAAN scheme.
Moreover apart from connecting all feasible ALGs in the state with fixed-wing passenger services, this initiative also aims to enhance tourism and make air travel affordable and accessible to all.
Extremely delighted to share the successful test landing of Dornier flight of @allianceair at Ziro advanced landing ground today. I had promised to my sisters & brothers of Lower Subansiri district to have regular flights for Dibrugarh from Ziro. The wait is going to be over now! pic.twitter.com/ydPVRfpGmD
— Pema Khandu པདྨ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་། (Modi Ka Parivar) (@PemaKhanduBJP) September 29, 2022
