Leelabari gets air connectivity with Dibrugarh, Jorhat
>From Our Correspondent
NORTH LAKHIMPUR, Jan 20 Bringing cheers to the public of Brahmaputras north
bank of Assam and bordering Arunachal Pradesh, Leelabari airport in North
Lakhimpur has again been connected to Dibrugarh and Jorhat by air. This was
stated by Uday Sankar Hazarika of the DGA Travels here recently.
This news comes as a New Year gift for the people of North Lakhimpur which
marks an end to a long and agonizing wait to see the resumption of flights from
Leelabari to Dibrugarh and Jorhat two important destinations of Assam after
Guwahati after a gap of almost 16 year.
Leelabari was wiped out from the civil aviation map of the country in 1988 when
the then Indian Airlines, that had been operating daily flights to this airport
connecting Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur, Guwahati and Kolkata by a Fokker
aircraft, stopped operating the service due to non-profitability and growing
aviation fuel hike. Since then the public of the entire north bank area of the
State have been deprived from having the national news dailies on the same
days, speed post and other important services that needed air service for
faster communication and transportation.
People of this part of the region of the State, including the districts of the
bordering Arunachal Pradesh, were denied quick access to the medical facilities
of the Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh, which had been availed by
them with the daily flights to Mohanbari from Leelabari.
Similarly, the people of North Lakhimpur, who share a common social and
personal bond with Jorhat because of their close proximity, had to go for long,
tedious and expensive bus service via Tezpur and Kaliabor covering almost 400
kms due to the suspension of the flights to Rowriah from Leelabari and due to
the perilous journey by boat across the Brahmaputra. Therefore the news of the
resumption of the air connectivity to these two important destinations of Assam
from Leelabari has brought cheers and enthusiasm to the public here in North
Lakhimpur.
It is worth mentioning here that the resumption of the flights to Leelabari was
possible only because of the relentless efforts by Uday Sankar Hazarika, a
local business entrepreneur and social worker who fought at various levels in
the Ministry of Civil Aviation for this. Hazarikas continuous campaign at the
Centre during the NDA government led to modernization of the Leelabari airport
which was reconstructed with a long runway for the landing of Boeing and Airbus
type of aircrafts with a sophisticated passenger terminal which was inaugurated
by then Union Civil Aviation minister Shah Nawaz Hussain in 2002 with the
tri-weekly service by a Boeing 737 aircraft by the Alliance Air from Kolkata
via Guwahati.
However unreasonable fare attracted fewer passengers to this services, which
forced the suspension of this service from 2003 and instead the Alliance Air
began operating ATR aircraft for the same route to Leelabari.
The private sector airliner Air Deccan began its Guwahati-Leelabari services
from 2006 along with the Alliance Air flights with six flights a week. But the
popular demand for the resumption of the air connectivity to Dibrugarh and
Jorhat from Leelabari remained unfulfilled till recently. Now the announcement
by the public sector Indian the rechristened Indian Airlines to operate
flights to these two destinations have brought joy as new years gift to North
Lakhimpur.
According to the press release by the DGA Travels here, the Indian will operate
flights to Dibrugarh and Jorhat from Leelabari thrice daily on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays.
The frequency of flights by the Indian in this route would be Flight No:
CD-7765 leaving Lokapriya GNB International Airport on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday at 0545 hours and arriving at Rowriah airport in Jorhat at 0620 hours
and again departing at 0640 hours to arrive at Leelabari at 0715 hours.
The flight CD-7767 will depart Leelabari on the same day at 0735 hours to
arrive at Mohanbari airport at Dibrugarh at 0810 hours. The flight CD-7768 will
take off from Mohanbari at 0830 hours to arrive at Leelabari at 0905 hours on
the same day. The flight CD-7766 will make its return journey to Guwahati from
Leelabari via Rowriah, Jorhat at 0925 hours and arrive at 1000 hours at Jorhat.
It will again depart for Guwahati at 1020 hours to land at Lokapriya GNB
International Airport, Guwahati at 1055 hours.
(The Assam Tribune,21.01.2008)
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