MBB Airport to be connected with Chittagong: ICA Minister
By Firstdespatch Desk Aug 23, 2022
Agartala, Aug 23 (FD) After a long wait, the dream came true for the people of Tripura as the state government has accepted a centre’s proposal to connect Agartala by air with Chittagong, a famous tourist spot of the neighbouring country.
First International flight service connecting Agartala and Chittagong in neighbouring Bangladesh would be introduced soon as the state government has accepted a proposal of the ministry of Civil Aviation, state information minister Sushanta Chowdhury said today.
Addressing a press conference at the civil secretariat here, Chowdhury said the ministry of civil aviation had sent a proposal to the state government to introduce flights between Agartala and Dhaka or Agartala and Chittagong and the state government chose the proposal between Agartala and Chittagong.
“The ministry gave us two options of introducing flights from here to Dhaka or Chittagong. We chose to accept the second option. We have to bear a subsidy, termed as Viable Gap Funding (VGF) of Rs. 15 crore per year for three years under UDAN scheme because initially no aviation company would like to incur any loss. The flight operate thrice a week”, Chowdhury said.
He said the decision to accept the ministry’s proposal was accepted in the meeting of the council of ministers today and the one way fair would be Rs. 4500 per passenger.
"The new terminal building, which was virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 4, has all facilities, from customs to immigration and separate zones for arrival and departure, for handling international passengers," Airport Director Rajib Kapoor told reporters earlier.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated on new terminal building of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport here on Jan 4 last, which has been built at a cost of Rs 3,400 crore. FD PD JK