Bagdogra airport is getting ready for a major expansion

HT, 13 Jun 2016, Kolkata, Bagdogra airport in Siliguri could rank among the top five non-Metro airports in the country in respect to annual growth of passengers once the instrumental landing system (ILS) is installed and the expansion plans is implemented.

The strategically-located airport, 16 km north of Siliguri town, witnessed the largest growth in passengers in 2014-2015. The growth of 43.6 percent compared to 2013-2014 was the highest in entire country. A total of 10, 35, 887 passengers used the airport in 2014-15 compared to 7, 21, 365 in 2013-2014.

However, the growth in 20152016 was only 5 percent. This could be because the flights did not get required time slots for landing and take-off.

The reason for increase in passengers’ traffic is the West Bengal government’s decision to reduce VAT to zero at Bagdogra since August 2013 for 3 years. This facility ended on March 31, 2016. It is in the process of being renewed, said airport director Bagdogra airport Rakesh R Sahay.

The Hills are calm as the political problem has been solved by the state and Centre. A vast catchment area and the promotion of tourism by the West Bengal and Sikkim governments in the North Bengal-Sikkim region contributed in a large number of tourists using the only functional airport in entire North Bengal-Sikkim zone.

Cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati, Paro, Bangkok, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore are connected with the airport. And it has the potential to connect places like Dhaka and Kathmandu too.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is in the process of modifying the terminal building, acquiring land for approach lights and a new terminal building, a residential colony, transit accommodation and a perishable cargo complex by 2020. The airport has a total area of 13.77 acres and the state government is likely to handover another 12.91 acres. The land is necessary for the installation of ILS.

Lack of ILS, poor visibility particularly during winter season plays spoilsport and leads to cancellation of flights. It requires a visibility of 2,100 meter for flights to land and take-off in absence of ILS at Bagdogra. Once the ILS is installed the visibility required would be only 550 meters for CAT 1 and 300 meter for CAT 2 Approach system. On an average, 35 to 40 flights get affected every year by due to poor visibility.

The biggest drawback of the airport is that there are no morning flights for Kolkata. In absence of morning flights, business travellers who want to be in Kolkata for a day do not travel by flights. If morning flights begin operating from Bagdogra, business travellers will shift to air travel as they can take early morning flight and return by late evening, said Sahay.

The airport terminal building was constructed in 2000-01. The peak hour capacity of the building is 400 passengers in departure and 350 in arrival. The cargo complex is small and there is no scope of expansion. Car parking is full to its capacity during peak hour. The toilets are inadequate. The airport needs additional 118 acres of land to implement its expansion plans and this requires an investment of Rs 250 to Rs 300 crores.