GUWAHATI: Ten days after the inauguration of Arunachal's first greenfield airport at Hollongi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday flagged off the maiden flight to the newly built Donyi Polo Airport from Kolkata.
The flight will connect Arunachal capital Itanagar with Kolkata and Mumbai.
The first commercial flight (Airbus 320) of IndiGo airlines took off from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, at 10.20 am and landed at Donyi Polo Airport at 12.35 pm, airport officials said. An official of the Airports Authority of India said Itanagar has become the 75th destination of IndiGo. A total 154 passengers arrived from Kolkata and the same flight returned to Kolkata with 99 passengers.
Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein flagged off the return flight to Kolkata at 1.05 pm in the presence of Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly speaker Pasang Dorjee Sona, Arunachal-East MP Tapir Gao and other dignitaries.
Scindia said the airport would augment air connectivity which is being expanded in the northeast and is in accordance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Purvoday Sankalp'. With this flight, direct air connectivity between Itanagar and Kolkata has been established. Flights will operate on a daily basis except on Wednesday, and further it will connect with Mumbai.
"A historic occasion & a very proud moment for people of Arunachal," Chowna Mein tweeted.