Survey to be conducted to check if 25 seater aircraft can operate in Pithoragarh
Under the regional connectivity scheme in Uttarakhand, the possibilities of operating a 25 seater airline in Pithoragarh have started increasing. For the expansion of the airstrip here, the team of the Airport Authority of India is coming to the survey. It is believed that this time by removing the obstacles coming in the expansion of this strip, arrangements will be made to operate a 25 seater aircraft here.
The state government started air service between Dehradun-Pithoragarh in the year 2018 under the regional connectivity scheme. Due to the small airstrip here, only nine seater aircraft were operated here. This service ran from Dehradun to Pantnagar and Pithoragarh. It was also successful due to low fares. Initially, after providing smooth service for some time, the air service started faltering.
The service was disrupted for a few days following a technical snag in the aircraft. After this the service started again but technical flaws kept coming to the fore. As a result, this air service was stopped in March last year. After this there was a lockdown due to corona infection. For this reason no one paid attention to it till September. When the process of unlocking started, the state government also wrote a letter to the Center requesting it to streamline this air service.
The state government requested the Center to operate its own air service, but no response was received. This issue was first raised by former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and then by former Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat with the Centre. The Center then informed that tenders have been invited for this.
