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Guwahati’s bid to become international air travel hub hits turbulence
Nok Air, a low-cost Thai airline, temporarily suspended its Guwahati-Bangkok flights from January 20, four months after SpiceJet suspended its Guwahati-Dhaka service.
The Assam government’s ambitious aim to transform Guwahati into an international air travel hub in the Northeast region has suffered another setback on Monday with Nok Air, a low-cost Thai airline, temporarily suspending its Guwahati-Bangkok flights.
The Guwahati-Bangkok flight was the only international flight that originated from the city. Last year, SpiceJet had suspended its Guwahati-Dhaka service after two months of operation.
Nok Air, which is a subsidiary of Thai Airways, had started its Guwahati-Bangkok service with much fanfare on September 21 last year with two flights connecting both cities every week.
“We would like to inform you that we are temporarily suspending our flights from 20th January 2020 to 11th April 2020. We plan to resume operations from 12th April 2020,” the airline said in statements on their social media platforms.
“We highly regret for the inconvenience caused due to cancellations, we would process a full refund to all our passengers who have booked between this period,” it added.
Nok Air’s decision follows Indian budget carrier SpiceJet’s move to suspend its Guwahati-Dhaka operations in September last year barely three months after starting the service.
Started in July last year, SpiceJet’s flights connecting Northeast’s biggest city to Bangladesh’s capital were operating daily initially, but had to be brought down to twice a week due to low response.
“Suspension of international flights by two airlines in such a short period is not good news. But we hope that they will resume soon and plans to connect Guwahati to other international destinations will go ahead as planned,” said a senior bureaucrat on condition of anonymity.
The Guwahati-Dhaka service was part of the Centre’s International Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS) or international UDAN (Ude Desh ke Aam Nagarik) scheme, which aimed to connect India’s smaller cities to key foreign destinations in the neighbourhood.
The government has plans to start Guwahati-Kathmandu and Guwahati-Mandalay flights this year. The response from airlines to operate these routes would be known once tenders floated for the two sectors are opened at the end of next month.
At present, Bhutan’s Druk Air is the only airline which operates an international flight via Guwahati. The airline connects Paro to Singapore with a 40 minutes layover in Guwahati.
