GUWAHATI, Feb 27 — All the airports in the north eastern region are suffering heavy losses as none of these is running in its full capacity and to aggravate matters, a number of airports remained closed for years. The Regional Executive Director of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Sri Srikrishan told The Assam Tribune that the revenue earned by AAI can be broadly divided into two heads – traffic revenue and non-traffic revenue. The traffic revenue includes the fees received from the airline companies on account of navigational aids, landing fees, parking charge etc, while the non-traffic revenue includes fees received from restaurants, canteens etc. But as all the airports are running much below their capacity, the AAI is suffering losses in all the airports of the region.
The Regional Executive Director said that even the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport, which is the busiest airport in the region, is running much below its capacity. He pointed out that at present on an average, 10 flights land and take off from the airport daily and majority of the flights operate between 11 am and 3 pm. The airport remains idle for the remaining part of the day,” “but we have to keep the take-off and landing facilities open from 6 am to 8 pm. We have requested the airline companies to change the schedules to keep the airport operational for most parts of the day,” he added.
Sri Srikrishan revealed that a number of airports in the region remained completely closed down for years which include Umarai, Rupshi, Khowai, Kamalpur, Kailashahar, Lilabari, Ziro, Tezu, Pashighat, Along, Sela and Coochbehar. AAI has kept a skeleton staff in these airports to maintain those, but the closure of these airports added to the loss suffered in the region. Efforts are also on to provide security cover by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the airports in a phased manner and at present, apart from the LGB Airport, the airports at Agartala, Imphal, Dibrugarh and Bagdogre have been provided CISF security cover. But putting CISF in the airports is a costly affair and at present AAI is spending an amount of Rs 2 crore per month in the NE for engaging CISF in airports.
New schemes : Giving a detailed account of the schemes taken up by AAI for improvement of the airports of the region, the Regional Executive Director said that a scheme has been taken up for a new terminal building and extension of the runway of Dibrugarh airport. The process of acquiring of land is on and AAI would shortly release the money for the same. AAI has taken up a number of plans under the Prime Minister’s special initiative and 60 per cent of money for these schemes would be paid by the North-Eastern Council. These schemes include construction of boundary wall around the newly acquired land, construction of perimeter road and air conditioning of the entire terminal building of LGB Airport, construction of a new terminal building, construction of boundary wall around the newly acquired land, extension of the runway and construction of isolation bay at Agartala, construction of boundary wall at Barapani, resurfacing of runway at Dimapur, resurfacing of runway and construction of isolation bay at Imphal, construction of new terminal building at Lilabari etc. Sri Srikrishan said the progress of implementation of all these schemes is satisfactory.
AAI, on its own, has also taken up several schemes for improvement of the airports of the region. Sri Srikrishan said that of the new projects, five are for the LGB Airport alone. He revealed that the site survey for extension of the runway from 9,000 ft to 12,000 ft has been completed and the detailed drawing for expansion of open, provision of aero-bridges and visitors’ lounge is being finalised. He said that construction of the new international terminal building is in its final stage, while statistical data for construction of an international cargo complex is being collected. AAI has also requested the State Government to transfer land free of cost for development of the approach road to the international terminal complex.
AAI is planning to install new instrument landing system at Agartala and the equipment have already arrived at the site. AAI has acquired land for installation of instrument landing system and simple approach lighting system at Lilabari and the equipment are expected shortly. A plan is also on to extend the runway of Silchar airport from 5860 ft to 7500 ft and AAI has already completed the process of land acquisition for the same.