CPM chief whip demands more flights for Tripura

Agartala: Protesting against Jet Airways’ withdrawal of its last flight from Agartala airport on Sunday, CPM’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Jitendra Choudhury, sought more flights for Tripura and inclusion of Agartala in Alliance Air’s northeastern cities circuit.
Under the viability gap funding (VGF) arrangement, North Eastern Council (NEC) has signed an agreement with the ministry of civil aviation recently to help Alliance Air run ATR flights in five northeastern cities.Agartala, however, does not feature on the list.
Before leaving for South America as part of the Indian Goodwill Delegation of Parliamentarians, Choudhury said private airlines, though not directly regulated by the ministry of civil aviation, should look beyond profits. The Agartala airport is estimated to generate the second-largest air traffic in the northeast after Guwahati’s Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, he said. According to the agreement, Alliance Air, an Air India subsidiary, will provide flight services to Shillong, Tezpur, Lilabari, Silchar and Guwahati till March, 2016, in exchange for concessions on jet fuel, landing, Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) and other costs. The VGF agreement will meet the gap between the actual cost of operations and the revenue earned from the flights.
Alliance Air had been operating flights to the northeast since January 2003 under the VGF system, only to discontinue it in December 2012. From January 2013, the airline restructured its ATR operations in the region and discontinued services on certain routes.
Operating flights in the northeast is mandatory for private airliners. The companies get benefits from the government. If any airline discontinues services from a remote state like Tripura, it is the duty of the ministry of civil aviation to intervene, Choudhury said.