HIGHLIGHTS:
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the Overseas Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS)
• Its goal is to improve air connectivity between India’s states and international destinations
• Manipur, Assam, and Tripura state governments have already identified routes to connect Imphal, Guwahati, and Agartala with international destinations
The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the Overseas Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS) with the goal of improving air connectivity between India’s various states and selected international destinations in order to encourage socioeconomic progress.
Overview:
The state governments have backed this newly launched programme. Manipur, Assam, and Tripura state governments have already identified routes to connect Imphal, Guwahati, and Agartala with international destinations like as Dhaka, Bangkok, Yangon, Kathmandu, Mandalay, Hanoi, Chittagong, and Kunming.
Development of airports to international standards
Upgrading and developing airports to international standards is a long and ongoing process that is largely carried out by the concerned airport’s operators, based on traffic demand, commercial viability, land availability, and other factors.
International Airports in the North East region
Imphal and Guwahati are the only international airports in the North East region at the moment. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Guwahati International Airport Limited (GIAL) are in charge of them, respectively.
Development works in the airports of North East
At their respective airports, both AAI and GIAL have completed various types of construction of the New Integrated Terminal Building (NITB) and other related activities. This was done in order to improve services, such as increasing passenger handling capacity. In addition, AAI has built a new terminal building at Agartala Airport in preparation for future international operations. Imphal Airport has also built a new integrated terminal building with a capacity of 2.4 million passengers per year in order to increase passenger handling capacity.