Arunachal Pradesh on Monday secured a place on India’s commercial aviation map after an Alliance Air flight landed at Pasighat advanced landing ground from Guwahati, PTI reported. The state’s chief minister, Pema Khandu, was among the 25 passengers on board.

Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, will operate the Calcutta-Guwahati-Pasighat route on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, PTI reported. Zoom Airlines is also scheduled to launch operations in the state soon, Khandu said. The flight has a scheduled time of 1.5 hours.

“Landed safely at Pasighat airport a few minutes ago flying from Guwahati on Alliance Air,” Khandu said. “I am proud to be part of this historic moment. I am extremely thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of Civil Aviation for connecting Arunachal with airways.”

During his address at Pasighat, Khandu described the flight as “history in the making”. “With this commercial flight, new vistas of economic development have opened in the region,” Khandu said. The chief minister said an airport at Tezu will be made operational soon.

The chief minister said that communication has been a bottleneck in the state. “Now, with the launch of the commercial flight, tourists from other states and foreign countries will be able to visit the picturesque locales of the state,” Khandu said.