Northeast must be Gateway to SE Asia, says Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia ahead of Tezu Airport inauguration

The newly built infrastructure at the airport have been built at a cost of Rs 170 crore.

The Northeast has made rapid strides in terms of air connectivity since 2014 which will soon go a long way in realising the idea of the region becoming the ‘Gateway to Southeast Asia’.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia made this observation ahead of the inauguration of the Tezu Airport in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit district on September 24.

Speaking to newspersons, Scindia highlighted the commitment and vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transform the Northeast not only in terms of connectivity, but also in other aspects.

He stated, “The Northeast, in the last 66 years, had only nine airports. In the last nine years, the PM’s resolve has resulted in almost doubling that number from the 2014 nine to the current 17. Tezu will be the 17th airport. Arunachal Pradesh in 2014 did have a single airport. Today, that same state has four airports-the Hollongi Airport built at a cost of Rs 600-700 crore, than in Pasighat, Ziro and now Tezu. So this will be the 4th airport in Arunachal alone.”

Sharing about the features of the airport, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “This airport in Arunachal will be connected through the Region Connectivity Scheme (UDAN) program to Dibrugarh, to Imphal, to Guwahati. It is built on a large area of land, almost 212 acres, a 1500 mtr runway, very large terminal building and we are aiming to provide state-of-the-art facilities within that terminal building. So I am very eager to go and commit this development project of the Prime Minister to the people of Arunachal Pradesh.”

“The Northeast must be the gateway to India, and from India, the gateway to the southeast. This has been the PM’s resolve,” the Union Civil Aviation Minister further said.

The newly built infrastructure at the airport that has been operational since 2018 include the extended runway, a new apron, a new terminal building, a fire station and an ATC Tower. These have been built at a cost of Rs 170 crore.

This would further improve the connectivity of this remote region with the rest of India and also give the necessary fillip to tourism and trade in the state that borders China, besides employment generation.

Tezu Airport is a domestic airport located in the town of Tezu which operates through a single runway.

The airport is developed on 212 acres of land, and is capable of handling operations for ATR 72 type of aircraft. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) undertook the development and upgradation work to operationalize Tezu Airport at the request of the State Government.

The terminal building of the airport has an area of 4,000 sqm with a peak-hour capacity of 300 passengers. It has five check-in counters at present, and will be increased to eight in the future.

The airport has two arrival carrousels and two aircraft parking bays for ATR-72-type aircraft, an official release said.

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