The first full-fledged airport of Arunachal Pradesh – Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar – is all set for inauguration this Independence Day.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has named the under-construction Hollongi Greenfield Airport as Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar before its inauguration which is expected on August 15.
The largest airport in the state, the Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar with its 2300-metre runway will be able to serve twin-engine narrow body aircraft.
Built by the Airports Authority of India, over an area of 320 hectares, the airport includes a terminal building measuring 5,100 square metres to handle 200 passengers during peak hours, an Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, a technical block and a fire station, with provisions for commercial activities such as a hotel and a convention centre. The apron will measure 115 metres by 106 metres, suitable for parking two Airbus A321 aircraft.
The Arunachal Pradesh government, in a cabinet decision recently, decided to name the Hollongi airport as Donyi Polo Airport.
The new airport has been built under the Centre’s capital connectivity scheme at a cost of Rs 645 crore, and will be starting operation from this year’s Independence Day.
Donyi Polo is the designation given to the indigenous religion of animistic and shamanic type, of the Tani and other Tibeto-Burman people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. The name “Donyi-Polo” means “sun-moon”.
