AGARTALA, Jan 11: The Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport in Tripura, though ready for operating international flights, is yet to launch services to Bangladesh's Dhaka and Chittagong, due to current political unrest in the neighbouring country, former Chief Minister and Member of Parliament Biplab Kumar Deb said on Friday.
"All required permissions were given by the Government of India to launch international flights from the MBB Airport to Bangladesh's Dhaka and Chittagong. But it is not conducive to start these international flights now due to the political situation there (Bangladesh)," Deb told reporters following an Airport Advisory Committee meeting.
The Tripura West MP further added that once the political situation in Bangladesh returns to normal, the flight operations would begin, benefitting people from both sides and strengthening the bilateral relations.
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.
—The Indian Express
