First Made in India Dornier Aircraft Flight
Context:
• The Minister of Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Pema Khandu today flagged off the first flight of Made in India HAL Dornier Do-228 in a bid to connect airports and Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) of Northeast India.
• The flight will be operational from Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and finally to Lilabari in Assam.
About:
• Alliance Air, a public sector airline company, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), a Central Public Sector Unit under Ministry of Defence to operate Indian made Dornier aircraft, which is called Hindustan aircraft.
• The deployment of the Do-228, which is built in India, will be done in stages. Two Hindustan aircraft would be stationed at Dibrugarh in the first phase to connect Tezu, Pasighat, and Ziro.
• The program’s second phase will provide connections to Mechuka, Tuting, and Vijoy Nagar.
• The airline will connect Tezu in the next 15 days, and then air connectivity to Ziro will begin in 30 days.
• The Ministry has authorised a special financial support of Rs. 500 crore for improving air connectivity and aviation facilities in NER through March 2024.
• About Rs. 227 crore of the Rs. 500 crore budget is set aside for the construction of ALGs and air connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh, accounting for half of the overall expenditure.
Source: THE HINDU.
