AGARTALA, Jan 27 (TIWN): Addressing the 67th Republic Day program on Tuesday at Assam Riffles ground Governor Tathagata Roy said that Agartala Airport would soon be upgraded to an International Airport. The Airport expansion work may take a lift in next few months, said Governor Tathagata Roy. He also said that Agartala Airport would soon be upgraded to an International Airport to facilitate better communication. It is to be mentioned here that After the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) had given clearance to the plan of setting up new terminal building at Agartala Airport, the work is now underway. If everything moves on accordingly the work might begin from February. However, until the tender is clarified nothing can be done regarding the construction. Apart, state government has already handed over required land for facelift work of the Agartala Airport.

However, the much awaited expansion project includes extension of runway to successfully accommodate wide bodied aircraft and to improve the passenger’s amenities. 

Four aero bridge provisions is likely to be there in the new terminal building, so that it can handle 1000 passengers on both departure and arrival at a time. Besides four conveyors belt will also inducted in the new terminal.

The new terminal building would be at least double its present size and the size of the apron would be four times bigger than the current size.  The director informed that the estimate cost for constructing the new terminal building will be around Rs 250 crore. For beefing up the security in the Airport, 87 CCTV cameras have been installed in the airport.

AAI has been incurring a loss of Rs 9 crore every year from Agartala, which also prompted the aviation body to push for the modernization of the airport. The existing runway would be expanded to almost double its present length and all modern safety equipment will be installed in the airport. At least two hangers will be built for parking six Boeing aircrafts and four aerobridges with the extension provisions of two more would be added to the terminal building for passengers' safety and comfort.