Made-in-India Dornier-228 aircraft takes off

Dibrugarh: Alliance Air's made-in-India Dornier 228 aircraft was deployed for its first commercial flight on the Dibrugarh-Pasighat route on Tuesday with Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kiren Rijiju on board. It's India's first commercial aircraft made in India.

Accompanied by senior government officers, Scindia and Rijiju boarded the flight at the Mohanbari airport in Assam's Dibrugarh for Pasighat in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh. The state-run Alliance Air became the country's first commercial airline to fly an Indian-made aircraft for civil operations.

Till now, Dornier 228 planes were used by the armed forces only. Alliance Air had in February signed an agreement with the government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to lease two 17-seater Dornier 228 aircraft. The airline received its first Dornier 228 plane on April 7. Regular flight operations are slated to start from April 18 on the Dibrugarh-Pasighat-Lilabari-Dibrugarh route. The services will be further expanded to Tezu, Mechuka, Ziro and Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh with the Dibrugarh airport as the hub station. The services will be operated by Alliance Air under regional connectivity scheme UDAN.