Alliance Air to restore flights to northeast

Air India's subsidiary Alliance Air Wednesday said it will restart flights to destinations in northeast cities where it used to operate earlier.

The airline signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the North East Council (NEC) for restarting flights to destinations like Shillong, Tezpur, Lilabari, Silchar and Guwahati till March 31, 2016.

The airline operates flights to these destinations under viability gap funding (VGF) which is mechanism through which Alliance Air only recovers its operating cost of services to the region.

However, since January 2013, due to outstanding VGF, the airline restructured its turbo-prop aircraft 'ATR' operations in the region by discontinuing flights to some of these destinations.

According to the civil aviation ministry, under the new MoU, Alliance Air will provide air services with ATR 42 type of aircraft. The North East Council (NEC) on other hand will assist the airline in obtaining concessions on jet fuel, landing, parking and housing charges in the region.

"The actual cost of operations shall be reviewed every three months based on the proposed cost and VGF amount will be fixed accordingly," the ministry said in a statement.