Former Tripura Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday urged the Civil Aviation Minister (Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu) to declare the Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport in Agartala as an international airport.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Deb said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new integrated terminal building of MBB Airport built at a cost of Rs 500 crore on January 4, 2022.

“The Tripura government has provided Rs 18.85 crore to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to start aircraft operation in the Agartala-Chittagong (Bangladesh) route. The airport can handle 1,000 domestic and 200 international passengers during peak hours,” he informed the House.

The airport can handle 3 million passengers annually, he said, adding that the airport has instrument landing system and ground lighting system to facilitate landing and takeoff of any big aircraft.

Demanding to set up immigration check-posts at the airport, he said the MBB Airport is the second biggest airport in the northeast (after Guwahati Airport) which is very important for the passengers of the region.

AAI sources said the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati and the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal currently enjoy international status in the northeastern region.

An AAI official said that around 20 flights operate from the MBB Airport regularly with over 4,000 passengers travelling daily.

Little over 20 km north of the state capital, the airport, earlier known as Singerbill Airport, was renamed after Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur by the Union government in July 2018.

With a built-up area of 30,000 sq mt, the new terminal building has been designed to handle both domestic and international passengers simultaneously during peak hours.

The airport was built in 1942 after the land was donated by then Tripura king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur and was used as a technical base for the Royal Air Force during World War II.