Conrad calls for expanding the horizon of air connectivity
Shillong, Nov 15: The “6th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit 2024”, a first-of-its-kind aviation summit held in the North East, was inaugurated by chief minister Conrad K Sangma in Shillong on Thursday.
The summit, organised by Pawan Hans Ltd and FICCI with support of Civil Aviation Ministry and state government, aims at expanding the scope of the helicopter as well as small aircraft sector across the country.
In his address, the chief minister said, “Shillong is the right place to hold such a summit because our terrain requires the use of small aircraft and helicopters for air travel and other socio economic activities.”
He further said when it comes to connectivity and its issues that the North-Eastern Region faces, particularly Meghalaya; air travel plays a very important role in achieving the wide gamut of goals that the state is striving towards.
Underlining the need to expand the horizon in terms of connectivity, he said, “A flight from Shillong to Dhaka is less than 30 minutes, Shillong to Bangkok would be roughly 1 hour 15 minutes and certain capitals of many countries in South East Asia are closer than our national capital. It takes two and a half hours to travel to Delhi but it is shorter for us to travel from Shillong to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and many other locations.”
“If we were to broaden our horizons to the entire Act East Zone, we would see the real potential in this entire exercise and can leverage this to our advantage to boost Tourism, Medical Assistance, Trade, Logistics and other major socio economic activities,” he said.
Calling for support from all stakeholders, including investors, technical experts, and service providers, he said, “The Government will handhold in the initial stages and provide continued support to bring about a convergence in all sectors to achieve the goal of an efficient and vibrant aviation ecosystem in the state and the region.”
Recognising the transformative changes brought by the UDAN scheme, he said, “I am excited for the UDAN Scheme version 5.5 for seaplanes and helicopters, as this scheme is one of the most important schemes in the North East.”
The event was attended by various stakeholders from the helicopter and small aircraft industry, including operators, OEMs, MRO providers, regulators, Financing & Leasing companies, and the representatives from different state governments.
