Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has sought the personal intervention of Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma for expeditious functioning of Tura airport and to speed up various matters related to aviation infrastructure in the airport.
In a letter to Sangma today, Scindia mentioned that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched RCS – UDAN to enhance regional air connectivity from unserved and underserved airports in the country by making air travel affordable to the people.
Tura airport figures in the tentative list of unserved airports. Bids for helicopter operations have been received for two RCS routes – Shillong to Tura and Tura to Shillong and Guwahati to Tura and Tura to Guwahati in special round of bidding 4.1 and the same is likely to be finalised soon as per the provisions of scheme document.
Scindia also stated that on the request of the Meghalaya government to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for taking over the Tura airport, the AAI had forwarded a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the State government in 2013.
Subsequently, for expansion and development of Tura airport for operationalisation of ATR-72 type of aircraft, AAI submitted a proposal for acquisition of 56.5 acres of land and a Detailed Project Report (DPR) with development cost of Rs.183.63 crores to the State government vide letter dated June 12, 2017.
The Meghalaya government vide letter dated August 18, 2020 informed that survey has been completed and the process of removal of obstacles at the airport was being initiated.
AAI vide letter dated September 18, 2020 has requested for additional information regarding existing infrastructure, land, finance, traffic demand and action plan.
As per air safety requirement, provision of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of 240 m x 60m was recommended and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operation with Simple Approach Lighting (SAPL) was proposed in Phase-1 along with city side infrastructure, runway extension.
So an additional land of 68.5 acres is needed to be acquired for Tura airport. Thus, a total land area of 125 acres needs to be acquired and handed over to AAI, free from all encumbrances and free of cost, for development of Phase-I the airport.
Further, for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations with ILS and CAT-1 Lighting System, additional land of 115 acres has to be reserved by the State government for the airport.
