Uttarakhand to soon get air connectivity to Gauchar, Chinyalisaur under UDAN 5.0 scheme

Uttarakhand's Chamoli and Uttarkashi will soon have flight options to Gauchar and Chinyalisaur airports under the UDAN 5.0 scheme.

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Under the fifth phase of UDAN scheme, small aircraft services from Gauchar and Chinyalisaur in Uttarakhand will be included in the tender for the fifth phase of the UDAN scheme, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday. In a letter to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Scindia also said fixed-wing aircraft services from Pithoragarh will start in January next year. The fifth phase of the UDAN scheme - UDAN 5.0, in which Gauchar and Chinyalisaur in Uttarakhand's Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts have been included aims to go from regional to remote air connectivity by adding more than 50 new destinations close to places of tourist interest to its list.

Fly Big Airline has already been asked to start fixed-wing aircraft services from Pithoragarh from January 31, the Union minister said in the letter. Fixed-wing flight operations will be operated by the firm between Pithoragarh-Pantnagar, Pantnagar-Pithoragarh, Pithoragarh-Hindon, Hindon-Pithoragarh, Pithoragarh-Dehradun, and Dehradun-Pithoragarh under the arrangement.

The Union minister also informed that the pre-feasibility report for upgrading Pantnagar airport into an international airport has also been prepared. The chief minister had met the Union minister on November 27 with a request to strengthen civil aviation infrastructure in the hill state.

Also, Alliance Air has now introduced two new routes to strengthen connectivity in the North-eastern province of the country under the UDAN scheme. New routes of the airline in the state of Arunachal Pradesh are: Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Ziro route and Dibrugarh-Itanagar-Pasighat. The services have been launched virtually by Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Civil Aviation Minister. Exercising the launch, he said Arunachal Pradesh is set to become a land of opportunities. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured Dornier 228 aircraft, took off from the Dibrugarh airport at 10.20 AM and finished its flight at the newly constructed Hollongi airport in Itanagar at 11.10 AM.