Editor,
Through many tough years of not having a fully functional airport, I am very proud to see our airport undergoing metamorphism and to see the end result is worthy, meaning that the ability to have a comfortable flight from our own airport ; whereby once upon a time it seemed a boredom to travel needing to go all the way to Guwahati for a flight which is tire some and taking a toll of one’s precious time.
I remember vividly when the new terminal at Shillong Airport was inaugurated way back in 2011 and how I fondly remember flying from Umroi in that small ATR 42 managed by then Air India. It was so quiet and funny to mention too; it looks grotesque and scary, being an alienated airport or ghost airport, whereby just 10 to 15 passengers would avail air travel from Umroi.
I remember there was no refueling station; hence, the small ATR 42 turboprop can carry only half of its capacity of passengers due to fuel constraints in our airport.
I wondered and was perplexed that the future of Shillong airport looks grim and that there was never a thought that other airlines would join the queue for operations from Umroi. I remember the boarding passes, which were written by hand, not the usual boarding passes with printed fonts. I witnessed the early and infancy stage of air travel from our airport at that point in time.
Sometimes the sudden cancellation of a flight would frustrate me, but those were memories that I just smiled when pondering now. I am writing this article or letter mainly to thank the AAI (Airport Authority of India), DGCA, and UDAN scheme for making this distant dream come true, which we can all witness.
However, being a frequent flyer and an aviation enthusiast, I would like to point out the laxity of knowledge of people from our state deeming our airport unsafe and that flights that are operating from Shillong airport are risky. I cannot comprehend nor imagine such innuendos and ignorance of our people pertaining to operations from our airport.
Our airport had seen the best of technological advances to ensure a safe flight for all passengers. The ignorance and this feeling of wanting to travel all the way to LGBI Airport in Guwahati as it was safer seemed like a joke to me, literally.
These people fabricated stories, which are untrue, and mind you, Shillong Airport has not endured any accidents or incidents nor disasters since its inception. We thank God for that.
Last year, when the weather was so bad and it was raining heavily during the monsoons, I was worried that my flight would be cancelled or delayed, but surprisingly, it was smooth as butter, the flight was on time, there was some turbulence though, but overall, it was a very good flying experience. Hence, I have come to realise that our airport is at par with almost all major airports in the country.
The questions about delays, cancellations, etc., whereby I have made and read many testimonials and research papers, showed that the majority of delays and cancellations usually happen due to the late arrival of aircraft from other cities or HUBS. Hence, one should not jump to the conclusion that the facilities at Shillong airport are not up to standards of operations.
We have been blessed to have the ILS Type C installed, which easily guides the pilot to land safely even in very poor weather conditions. Yes, delays and cancellations occur due to unavoidable circumstances, but the rate of delays or cancellations of flights from our airport has reduced drastically.
One more thing, I really wish that the long-pending issue of increasing runway strength and length would be finished, and I urge the officials to look at this to ensure wide-bodied aircraft would be able to commence operations and give us more connections to the rest of important metro cities and other cities in the country as well. I am one proud citizen to see how much our beloved airport has transformed over these years and that passenger traffic has increased considerably, and I’m looking forward to more connections and a better flying experience in the future.
Kudos to team AAI Shillong, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), and the Transport Department who have taken great steps to enhance better and smoother air connectivity from our lone Shillong (Umroi) Airport.
Chanmiki Laloo
Shillong – 2
