Guwahati-based airline flybig on Monday launched a direct daily Guwahati-Dibrugarh-Guwahati flight under viability gap funding by the Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) for the promotion of regional air connectivity.

Assam tourism minister Jayanta Malla Baruah flagged off the inaugural flight from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati.

Baruah said flybig would also launch a Guwahati-Silchar-Guwahati flight on May 15 and both flights will operate under viability gap funding by the ATDC.

Under the viability gap funding, the state government will make up for the shortfall if the flights operate at less than 50 per cent of their seating capacity to ensure the routes remain viable.

“Whether it is evacuation during a flood or providing connectivity to the remotest regions of the state, flybig is the first choice of our chief minister,” Baruah said.

The Assam government had in March signed an MoU with flybig airline to operate daily flights on Guwahati-Dibrugarh-Guwahati and Guwahati-Silchar-Guwahati routes in the state.

The 72-seater ATR flight will leave Guwahati at 9.35am every day and depart from Dibrugarh in Upper Assam at 4.30pm.