In 2019, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for the construction of Greenfield Airport at Hollongi and inaugurated retrofitted Tezu airport.
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According to an official statement, the terminal at Hollongi has been constructed approximately at a cost of ₹955 crore with an area of 4100 sq m and has a peak handling capacity of 200 passengers per hour.
The airport, which is the first greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh, has been developed in an area of over 690 acres, at a cost of more than ₹640 crore.
With a 2,300 m runway, the airport is suitable for all weather day operations.
"The airport terminal is a modern building, which promotes energy efficiency, renewable energy and the recycling of resources. Donyi Polo Airport will be the third operational airport for Arunachal Pradesh, taking the total airport count in the North-East region to 16. From 1947 to 2014, only nine airports were built in the North-East. In a short span of eight years since then, the Modi government has built seven airports in the North-East," read the official statement.
"Aircraft movement in the North-East has also witnessed an increase of 113 per cent since 2014, from 852 per week in 2014 to 1817 per week in 2022," added the statement.
The name of the airport reflects the traditions and rich cultural heritage of Arunachal Pradesh and its age-old indigenous reverence to the Sun ('Donyi') and the Moon ('Polo').
It will be Arunachal Pradesh's first airport with a runway of 2,300 metres, suitable for the landing and take-off of Boeing 747, one of the largest passenger aircraft.
Earlier on 18 October, Indigo Airlines had successfully test-landed its aircraft at the newly constructed airport.
Airports in five northeastern states, namely, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland have seen flights take off for the first time in 75 years.
Meanwhile, the Centre, in March this year, accorded 'in-principle' approval for setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country namely Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Sindhudurg and Shirdi in Maharashtra, Bijapur,Hassan, Kalaburagi and Shimoga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Jewar (Noida) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Orvakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.
Ministry of Civil Aviation has also launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) in October, 2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses.
(With inputs from ANI)
