Tripura: International flight operation from Maharaja Bir Bikram airport to start soon

AGARTALA: International flight operation from the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) airport in Agartala would soon start operations connecting Bangkok via Guwahati and Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) informed that the international flight operation from the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) airport in Agartala would soon start operations connecting Bangkok via Guwahati and Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh.

The water cannon salute was accorded on Saturday after the first flight with 143 passengers on board from Kolkata landed at the new integrated terminal building of MBB Airport, which was inaugurated by PM Modi on January 4.

The new terminal building on Saturday was commissioned in the presence of Union MoS Pratima Bhoumik, who was among the first passengers to embark from the airport on Saturday.

The airport is equipped with four aero bridges. It has six parking bays, more than double the previous one. The much awaited international tag to the airport will soon be a reality once mandatory clearance comes.

First built in 1942 after the land was donated by the then Tripura king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur, the Agartala airport was used as a technical base for the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Earlier known as Singerbill Airport, Agartala airport was renamed after Maharaja Bir Bikram in July 2018.

It is being used in a big way by Bangladesh nationals, for whom Agartala sometimes is the first stop to a destination in India or overseas as the airport is much closer to their areas than their own country’s airports.