Bagdogra airport: Footfall at record high, expansion plans on war footing

“The government has reduced VAT on aviation fuel to zero – making it the cheapest in the country. So more airlines have started coming. Secondly, the footfall in the catchment area of the airport – which is Sikkim, Darjeeling, the Dooars and North Bihar, has increased exponentially. For instance, we get a lot of passengers who deboard on their way to places like Poornia or Katiyar in North Bihar – it is around a three-hour drive to these places from Bagdogra and a 10-hour journey from Patna,” says Sahay. Sahay points out that there was a major dip in tourism in Darjeeling soon after Sikkim became the new tourist destination several years ago. “But tourism in Darjeeling is on the rise again. Many tourists see the old world British charm as an attraction. Apart from that, tourism in the Dooars is also on the rise,” he said.

Sahay says that corresponding to this renewal of tourism, a flurry of hotel and homestays have started opening up in North Bengal. In a month’s time, Bagdogra airport will inaugurate its new night landing system. “This has been a long standing demand of many airlines. It is finally in place. We have applied to the DGCA for certification and expect to receive it within a month,” he adds.

Over the past few months, Bagdogra airport authority officials have had a slew of meeting with officials of the state government as well as the Centre. While a 550 square meter area has already been added to the airport, where the existing restaurant will be shifted, freeing up space to hold an additional 400 passengers, the proposal mooted is to construct a brand new terminal.

Officials say that the land for this is still being identified. The present terminal exists at the centre of Bagdogra’s 9000-foot runway. While the present terminal can hold 400 passengers at a time, the new one is expected to hold 1,000. This means that that four flights will be able to land simultaneously at the airport instead of the present three. “Actually, between the hours of 12 pm and 3 pm, sometimes we have as many as eight flights trying to land,’’adds Sahay.