An inaugural flight between Bangkok and Guwahati, capital of the Indian state of Assam, has boosted hopes in India’s north-eastern states for greater people-to-people links with South-east Asia.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the Nok Air flight from Guwahati on Sept 22 and later tweeted to say the new service marked the city’s bid to become “the hub of #SEAsian connectivity”.

“We are looking to push India’s #ActEast to open up ties with the vibrant #SEAsian market leveraging our historic links and geostrategic location,” he said.

The city is already connected to Singapore with flights operated by Bhutanese airline Drukair.

The Indian government also expects to connect Guwahati to Yangon, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur soon. It has invited bids from airlines for these sectors under a national scheme that offers a government subsidy to Indian airlines that fly to unconnected or under-served destinations.

In the absence of direct flights, passengers travelling from the north-east to many of these locations to the east of India currently have to fly westwards to Kolkata or even New Delhi before taking an international flight.

Mr Biswajit Chakrabarty, director of the North East Advisory Council at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Guwahati, said air connectivity between India’s north-east and foreign locations has shown positive development.

“If there is one thing among everything on the Act East front that has happened here in the past few years, that can change things for the better, it is this (greater air connectivity),” he said, listing medical tourism, education and tourism as some of the sectors in this region that stand to benefit from better connectivity with South-east Asia.

Air KBZ, an airline based in Myanmar, also expects to start scheduled flights between Imphal, capital of the Indian state of Manipur, and Mandalay in Myanmar in November this year.

A flight between these two cities, as well as between Imphal and Kalay (in Myanmar’s Sagaing region), will help boost medical tourism significantly, said Dr Palin Khundongbam, chairman-cum-managing director of Shija Hospitals and Research Institute.

Based in Imphal, the hospital has treated more than a thousand patients from Myanmar and even Thailand since August last year, when two crossing points on the Indo-Myanmar border were opened. Patients come for procedures including heart and spinal surgery.

The Indian states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland share a border with Myanmar.

“Patients come to us as well as other hospitals in Imphal using the surface route despite logistical hurdles and inconvenience. This is because quality healthcare is available at significantly cheaper rates in Imphal than in Bangkok or Singapore,” said Dr Khundongbam.

“A flight between Imphal and Mandalay or Kalay therefore will allow a much greater number of patients as well as tourists to come here with ease,” he added.

India’s north-east has been a focal point of its Act East policy, as well as a precursor of Look East. Given the region’s strategic location – states here share borders with China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar – it occupies a central place in many key multilateral connectivity projects, such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the wider Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor.

But progress on these projects has been slow, unlike on air connectivity. “The commitment is there but actual implementation is very incremental,” said Professor Nani Gopal Mahanta, director of the Centre for South East Asian Studies at Gauhati University. “This is causing a kind of cynicism among the north-easterners, who wonder if this region will again be bypassed. That is the apprehension.”

The north-eastern states also suffer from poor inter-regional connectivity, with people still taking around two days to reach Guwahati, the biggest city in the region, from parts of the north-east. “In some ways the north-east is more connected with Delhi than with itself. This is a major issue and Act East has to also factor in connectivity within the region,” said Prof Mahanta.

Japan is currently helping India to build better road connectivity in the states of Assam and Meghalaya.

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