Agartala flight operations to Dhaka, Chittagong getting delayed due to Bangladesh unrest: former Tripura CM Biplab Deb

He also stated that apart from flight operations, the trade and connectivity between the two countries were also affected due to the political situation in Bangladesh.

“Indian economy may have minimal impact due to the situation there, but Bangladesh’s Gross Domestic Product that was neatly 18 percent, has suffered,” he said, and highlighted the foreign policy of India that lays stress on enhancing peace and development among its neighbours. Deb expressed hope that Bangladesh would work for restoration of stability.

Earlier, Biplab Kumar Deb had raised the need for granting international status to the MBB airport, currently the second busiest airport in the North East, in the Lok Sabha. The airport recorded a footfall of close to 1.8 million passengers in 2019, after Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport of Guwahati.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the new terminal building of MBB airport, also called Agartala Airport, in 2022 as the existing terminal has become saturated. The new terminal building would be capable of handling 4-5 times more passengers than the existing terminal, which was commissioned in 2001 with a maximum capacity of handling 500 passengers, including departures and arrivals.

The airport’s history dates back to 1942, when it was built as a military airstrip on a piece of land donated by the then king of Tripura – Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur.