DIBRUGARH, May 12 � This city here being a vibrant medical centre on the banks of the Brahmaputra, has now grown into a major urban centre and a hub of industry and communication in eastern India. Although the railway connectivity to and from the city has improved a lot over the last one decade with Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Dibrugarh-Kanyakumari Vivek Express, etc., a lot remains to be seen for an optimum utilisation of the air transport potential that this city has to offer.
Presently the city has three daily flights to the national capital New Delhi daily; one via Kolkata and two via Guwahati, operated by the Indigo Airlines and Jet Airways. However, the flights of the state-run carrier Air India to and from Dibrugarh is far from being satisfactory as alleged by the frequent air travellers here.
It may be mentioned here that earlier Air India used to operate direct flights in the Kolkata-Dibrugarh and Dibrugarh-Kolkata sectors five days a week, which was to be enhanced to a daily flight. However, the Indigo Airlines, which entered into the scene much later, is presently operating two daily direct flights in the Kolkata-Dibrugarh and Dibrugarh-Kolkata sectors, whereas, Air India�s Dibrugarh to Kolkata flight is operated thrice a week via Dimapur and Kolkata to Dibrugarh flight operated via Dimapur twice a week.
This has caused severe loss of revenue for the cash-starved state-owned airline as few passengers travel in the Dibrugarh-Dimapur sector and back. Moreover passengers have to suffer a lot due to routing of the flights via Dimapur. At the same time, there has been a popular public demand for introduction of a morning flight from Dibrugarh to Kolkata via Guwahati. Taking a cue from this, former chairman of the Dibrugarh Municipal Board, Chandra Kanta Baruah and social activist and teacher of the Oil India High School, Duliajan, Nabajyoti Borkakoty have written to the Kolkata-based general manager (commercial) of the state-run airline for introduction of a morning flight from Kolkata to Dibrugarh and Dibrugarh to Kolkata via Guwahati.
It was mentioned in the memorandum that with emergence of Dibrugarh as an industrial and communication hub in northeast India, a void has been felt for long, particularly by the local business community, patients, bureaucrats, corporate executives, students, foreign and domestic tourists for a morning flight in the sectors.
In the memorandum, a preferable time has also been cited for introduction of the flight. They suggested that the Kolkata-Dibrugarh flight be routed via Guwahati and the departure time from Kolkata be 5:30 am so that the flight could land at Guwahati at 6:30 am, which can take off from Guwahati at 7:00 am and land at Dibrugarh at 8:00 am. In the return journey, the flight can take off from Dibrugarh at 8:30 am reaching Guwahati at 9:30 am and taking off again at 10:00 am, the flight will land at Kolkata at 11:00 am.
�A lot of passengers including professionals, businessmen, corporate executives, etc., will immensely benefit from a morning flight in the Kolkata-Dibrugarh-Kolkata sector via Guwahati and conversely any airline introducing such a flight will get good load of passengers as well,� said Dr KC Borah, general secretary of the Dibrugarh Nagarik Sangha. There is also a demand for a non-stop morning Dibrugarh-New Delhi flight and late evening non-stop flights to Dibrugarh from Delhi and Mumbai.