Hand over 9.4 acres to Airport Authority of India, Ladakh told

New Delhi, August 8

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has asked the Ladakh administration to handover the identified 9.4 acres of land to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the purpose of establishing new civil enclave for UDAN operations.

Last week, while answering a written question on the government’s proposal to operate small flights to Kargil and Nubra in Ladakh and their feasibility, Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation General VK Singh (retired), had said the Kargil airport was handed over to the Indian Air Force in 2003 by the AAI. “Later, on the request of the erstwhile state government, the AAI engaged International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to explore the feasibility of RNP-AR (required navigation performance-authorization required) procedures to access the airport,” he said.

The MoCA launched the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN) on October 21, 2016, to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses and noted that the scheme was market driven, Singh said. — TNS