A Dornier 228 aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on April 12 took off on its maiden commercial flight from eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh to central Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat .
HAL has been manufacturing the Dornier aircraft after transfer of technology from the German firm that owned it, but the made-in-India aircraft had not been used for civil aviation until now.
The public sector Alliance Air in February signed an agreement with HAL for leasing two Dornier 228 aircraft. The airline received the two aircraft on April 7.
“Overjoyed and proud to embark on the 17-seater Made-in-India Dornier 228 aircraft – in its first ever maiden service to Arunachal Pradesh!” Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted after inaugurating the Dibrugarh-Pasighat flight along with Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju.
“Alliance Air is the first airline to embark upon the journey of operating the made-in-India aircraft and contributing towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative,” he said.
Alliance Air’s coordinator (east) Chirasree Sanyal said the airline had been tasked with offering better connectivity for Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns with their closest city hubs with the vision of “connecting new India”.
The route linking Dibrugarh with Pasighat and Lilabari (Assam) will see operations twice a week from April 18. The aircraft is capable of both day and night operations, officials said.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who flagged off the flight from Pasighat, said the small fixed-wing flight service would help bolster tourism, making air travel affordable and accessible to all.
