[Assam] Leelabari gets air connectivity with Dibrugarh, Jorhat (The Assam Tribune, 21.01.2008)

[Manoj Das]

very good news... when my father/uncles studied at dibrugarh..they used to
fly by good old dakotas.. it was a short hop..

-manojda

On Jan 21, 2008 11:17 AM, Buljit Buragohain <buluassam at yahoo.co.in> wrote:

> Leelabari gets air connectivity with Dibrugarh, Jorhat
> >From Our Correspondent
>  NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Jan 20 – Bringing cheers to the public of Brahmaputra's
> north bank of Assam and bordering Arunachal Pradesh, Leelabari airport in
> North Lakhimpur has again been connected to Dibrugarh and Jorhat by air.
> This was stated by Uday Sankar Hazarika of the DGA Travels here recently.
>
> This news comes as a New Year gift for the people of North Lakhimpur which
> marks an end to a long and agonizing wait to see the resumption of flights
> from Leelabari to Dibrugarh and Jorhat – two important destinations of Assam
> after Guwahati – after a gap of almost 16 year.
>
> Leelabari was wiped out from the civil aviation map of the country in 1988
> when the then Indian Airlines, that had been operating daily flights to this
> airport connecting Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur, Guwahati and Kolkata by a
> Fokker aircraft, stopped operating the service due to non-profitability and
> growing aviation fuel hike. Since then the public of the entire north bank
> area of the State have been deprived from having the national news dailies
> on the same days, speed post and other important services that needed air
> service for faster communication and transportation.
>
> People of this part of the region of the State, including the districts of
> the bordering Arunachal Pradesh, were denied quick access to the medical
> facilities of the Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh, which had
> been availed by them with the daily flights to Mohanbari from Leelabari.
>
> Similarly, the people of North Lakhimpur, who share a common social and
> personal bond with Jorhat because of their close proximity, had to go for
> long, tedious and expensive bus service via Tezpur and Kaliabor covering
> almost 400 kms due to the suspension of the flights to Rowriah from
> Leelabari and due to the perilous journey by boat across the Brahmaputra.
> Therefore the news of the resumption of the air connectivity to these two
> important destinations of Assam from Leelabari has brought cheers and
> enthusiasm to the public here in North Lakhimpur.
>
> It is worth mentioning here that the resumption of the flights to
> Leelabari was possible only because of the relentless efforts by Uday Sankar
> Hazarika, a local business entrepreneur and social worker who fought at
> various levels in the Ministry of Civil Aviation for this. Hazarika's
> continuous campaign at the Centre during the NDA government led to
> modernization of the Leelabari airport which was reconstructed with a long
> runway for the landing of Boeing and Airbus type of aircrafts with a
> sophisticated passenger terminal which was inaugurated by then Union Civil
> Aviation minister Shah Nawaz Hussain in 2002 with the tri-weekly service by
> a Boeing 737 aircraft by the Alliance Air from Kolkata via Guwahati.
>
> However unreasonable fare attracted fewer passengers to this services,
> which forced the suspension of this service from 2003 and instead the
> Alliance Air began operating ATR aircraft for the same route to Leelabari.
>
> The private sector airliner Air Deccan began its Guwahati-Leelabari
> services from 2006 along with the Alliance Air flights with six flights a
> week. But the popular demand for the resumption of the air connectivity to
> Dibrugarh and Jorhat from Leelabari remained unfulfilled till recently. Now
> the announcement by the public sector Indian – the rechristened Indian
> Airlines – to operate flights to these two destinations have brought joy as
> new years gift to North Lakhimpur.
>
> According to the press release by the DGA Travels here, the Indian will
> operate flights to Dibrugarh and Jorhat from Leelabari thrice daily on
> Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
>
> The frequency of flights by the Indian in this route would be Flight No:
> CD-7765 leaving Lokapriya GNB International Airport on Monday, Wednesday and
> Friday at 0545 hours and arriving at Rowriah airport in Jorhat at 0620 hours
> and again departing at 0640 hours to arrive at Leelabari at 0715 hours.
>
> The flight CD-7767 will depart Leelabari on the same day at 0735 hours to
> arrive at Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh at 0810 hours. The flight CD-7768
> will take off from Mohanbari at 0830 hours to arrive at Leelabari at 0905
> hours on the same day. The flight CD-7766 will make its return journey to
> Guwahati from Leelabari via Rowriah, Jorhat at 0925 hours and arrive at 1000
> hours at Jorhat. It will again depart for Guwahati at 1020 hours to land at
> Lokapriya GNB International Airport, Guwahati at 1055 hours.
>
> (The Assam Tribune,21.01.2008)
>
>
>
>
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Manoj Kumar Das
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