SHILLONG:
Transport Minister Dasakhiatbha Lamare, on March 15, admitted that the government’s agreement with regional airline FlyBig to facilitate Shillong-Delhi-Shillong flight service was done in a haste and it is a lesson to be learnt.
Replying to a question by West Shillong legislator Mohendro Rapsang about the status of Delhi-Shillong-Delhi flight during the eight day of the budget session, Lamare said that a show-cause notice has been served to the airline and they have requested time saying the service would be resumed within this month.
“The department will wait till the end of this month and if FlyBig is unable to provide the service, other steps will be taken,” Lamare said, adding that the second wave of Covid was one of the major factors why the service was inoperative.
“FlyBig was chartering a SpiceJet aircraft for the Delhi-Shillong-Delhi flight service since its launch in December, 2020. However, due to the second wave, SpiceJet could no longer provide its aircraft to the regional airline on charter leading to a disruption in the service,” Lamare informed the House.
Then FlyBig looked at securing an aircraft on dry lease but, again, the pandemic slowed things down, he added.
Supplementing Lamare’s reply, chief minister Conrad K Sangma clarified that the selection of the service provider was done through a tendering process where two parties had applied.
“Both of them were asked to give specification of the airlines or the aircrafts that they will be using. However, the second party gave a very high quotation compared to FlyBig because they were using a jet and it costs higher,” he said.
He also added that the agreement with FlyBig was signed before the Covid-19 and the entire process of getting the wet lease was pending. “Now they have signed the agreement for the wet lease and they are supposed to get an aircraft. Earlier, the agreement between FlyBig and SpiceJet got cancelled and the latter stop giving aircrafts to the former for usage and that is why this entire process stopped,” he said.
Stating that the government is giving viability gap funding as per use basis, Sangma said, since the operator is inoperative, the government is not spending anything at this point in time.
He also went on to highlight the challenges the initiative face in regards to the airport. “We had taken the initiative, but it’s a huge challenge because of the kind of airport we have. There are lots of restriction to it as larger aircraft cannot land in this particular runway stretch as it is too small. Because of these challenges, only limited aircrafts could come,” the chief minister said.
The chief minister also informed that the government has taken steps to make Shillong airport an international one.
“Verbally I have had a personal communication with the Union Minister of Civil Aviation saying that connectivity to Sylhet and Dhaka would be something that will improve the connectivity. Yes, we have started moving in that line also,” said Sangma.