Table of Contents
What has happened?
- It’s a big day for aviation in India. The first-ever “made in India” commercial flight – a 17-seater Dornier aircraft – started operations yesterday.
- The aircraft will link five remote towns of Arunachal Pradesh to Assam’s Dibrugarh, boosting air connectivity in the northeastern region of the country.
- The first historic flight of the “Made in India” Dornier Do-228 took off from Dibrugarh in Assam and landed in Pasighat town in Arunachal Pradesh.
Who made it & who will operate?
- The Do-228 has been made by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and delivered to Alliance Air on 8 April.
- The 17-seater aircraft is capable of day and night operations.
- Alliance Air will be India’s first commercial airline to fly an India- made aircraft for civil operations.
- Two aircraft have been handed over to Alliance Air – one has been shifted to Dibrugarh airport, the newest hub for the regional airline.
About the aircraft
- Dornier is originally a German aircraft first deployed by the long-defunct regional airline Vayudoot to service over 100 airports across India till the early 1990s.
- In 1981, HAL acquired the production license for the aircraft from the manufacturers and assembled 125 of them at its Kanpur facility for both civilian and military purposes.
- Since 2009, Swiss aerospace engineering and defence company RUAG has been manufacturing the upgraded Do-228 New Generation (NG), with the fuselage, wings and tail being sourced from HAL.
- The Dornier 228 NG used for commercial operations is the first aircraft made entirely in the country.
- It is a far improved version as compared to its predecessors.
Where will Do-228 operate?
- Alliance Air will initially be flying from Dibrugarh to Pasighat.
- And in the next 15 to 20 days, it will fly to Tezu and then to Ziro, both towns in Arunachal Pradesh as part of the first phase.
- The second phase aims to connect Vijaynagar, Mechuka, Along and other places, a top Ministry of Civil Aviation told.
- Remote places in eastern Arunachal including some areas close to the China and Myanmar borders will now have air connectivity.
- The Advanced Landing Grounds maintained by Indian Air Force will be used for landing.
- Those residing in these eastern Arunachal Pradesh towns needed anywhere between one to five days of travel to reach the nearest airports of Dibrugarh and Lilabari in Assam.
- With the new ‘Made in India’ commercial aircraft that’s about to change drastically. Until now, the Dornier 228 planes were used only by the armed forces.
Why north-east?
- Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has approved a Scheme- “Providing air connectivity and Aviation infrastructure in North Eastern Region” to promote air connectivity in the states of North Eastern Region and, if requires, to develop infrastructure for air connectivity.
- Scindia had announced on 19 August 2021 that the Centre aimed to set up 1,000 air routes and establish 100 new airports by 2025 under the UDAN scheme.
Utility of this aircraft
- The Hindustan-228 is conceived to be a multirole utility aircraft capable of being used for VIP transport, passenger transport, air ambulance, flight inspection roles, cloud seeding, recreational activities like para jumping, aerial surveillance, photography, remote sensing and cargo transport.
- With a maximum cruise speed of 428 kmph and a range of 700 kmph the aircraft is capable of night flying.
- HAL is looking forward to exporting the aircraft as well to countries like Nepal.
Q) Which of the following is correct regarding UDAN 4.0?
- Airport Authority of India is the implementing agency.
- The maximum airfare has been capped at Rs 5000 for one hour journey.
- 1 only
- 2 only
- Both 1 & 2
- None of the above
Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF
WhatsApp