AAI to spend Rs 450 crore to upgrade Agartala airport

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will spend Rs 450 crore to upgrade Agartala airport to international standards and complete it by 2016.

"Ground work like survey and other related works have already been completed. The project work will be started soon," Tripura Transport minister Manik Dey said today.

Dey said the state government has urged the Centre to declare Agartala airport as an international one, with flights to Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh for trade and commerce between the two countries.

Agartala airport would be made an international airport as part of India's Look East policy to increase trade and commerce in the North Eastern region and boost connectivity with Southeast Asian countries, the minister said.

A master plan has been prepared for upgrading the airport and 72 acres of land acquired by the state government was handed over to AAI for expansion of the runway.

"Following its up gradation, it would be able to handle 1,000 passengers per hour," he said.

Every day more than 17 flights operate in a day from the Agartala airport, which is the second busiest in the Northeast region after Guwahati airport in Assam, and will be the third international standard airport after the Guwahati and Imphal airports.

The Centre has also announced that Imphal's Tulihal airport will be an international airport after its modernization.