Agartala: Tripura’s Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport is set to expand its network with the launch of new flight services linking Agartala to Bagdogra and Silchar, further enhancing air connectivity across the Northeast.
According to officials, Air India Express will begin operating direct flights between Agartala and Bagdogra on Sunday evening, offering travellers a convenient link to North Bengal and nearby tourist destinations such as Darjeeling.
The service marks the first such connection between the two cities.
In another major step, IndiGo will reintroduce flights on the Agartala–Silchar route from October 28, operating twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The route is being revived nearly 30 years after it was discontinued, officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed.
With the addition of these two sectors, Agartala now enjoys direct air connectivity with ten major Indian cities, including Kolkata, Delhi, Imphal, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, and Chennai.
AAI’s Assistant General Manager (Agartala), S. Haokip Jempu, said the growing air network reflects the airport’s rising importance as a regional hub.
MBB Airport currently handles between 4,000 and 5,000 passengers daily, with 13 to 16 flights operating each day.
It also ranks tenth in the country in terms of customer satisfaction among Indian airports.
The newly built terminal at MBB Airport spans 30,000 square metres and is designed to manage both domestic and international flights during peak hours.
The facility has played a key role in making Agartala the second-busiest airport in the Northeast, after Guwahati’s Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport.
Out of the 23 airports in the region, 17 are currently operational.
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Tripura Transport and Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury earlier said the state government remains committed to expanding its air links further, including an international connection to Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The government has earmarked Rs. 15 crore for the project and already disbursed Rs. 3.85 crore to the AAI as an advance payment in 2022.
However, political unrest in Bangladesh has delayed the service’s launch.
Historian and author Pannalal Roy noted that Tripura’s royal family had donated land for the state’s airfields, including the MBB Airport.
“During World War II, King Bir Bikram supported the Allied forces and facilitated the construction of airstrips at Agartala and other parts of the state,” he said, adding that the Agartala airfield was bombed twice by Japanese aircraft in 1943.
