Tripura CM urges direct flights between Agartala, Dhaka

Dhaka: Biplab Kumar Deb, Chief Minister of the Northeastern Indian state of Tripura on November 10 urged the Indian Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to commence direct international flights on Agartala-Dhaka and Agartala-Chattogram routes.

Deb made the call during a video conference with Scindia, said reports.

Later in a social media post, the Tripura CM expressed the Civil Aviation Minister had assured full support to the Tripura government for fulfilling the proposal.

Tripura shares an 856km long border with Bangladesh.

Reports added that the Airports Authority of India (AII) said the new terminal building at the Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala, with a capacity to handle 1,200 passengers per day, almost three times more than the existing facility, is expected to become operational soon.

The new terminal building will have six bays, one hangar, 20 check-in counters, 5 customs counters and 10 immigration counters, an inline baggage system, and a solar power unit.

The Agartala airport was built as a military airstrip by the British on the land donated by the then king of Tripura Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur and it was renamed after him in July 2018.