A total of 2,700 passengers have travelled through Assam”s Rupsi airport, marking 50 days of successful operation since the resumption of scheduled domestic air travel after a gap of 38 years, airport officials said on Monday. Operations were permitted by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) from May 8 last amid the COVID19 restrictions and the airport has been re-developed under the Regional Connectivity Scheme-UDAN. The Indore based Flybig Airlines has started its commercial flight services between Guwahati-Rupsi-Kolkata route with extended support from the state government as well as concerned authorities. The flight is scheduled to operate four days in a week on the route on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. Since the resumption of domestic operations at the airport, the highest number of passengers was 162 on June 22 of which 62 were arrivals and 100 passengers were departures. Rupsi airport”s Officer In-charge Jyotirmoy Boruah said, “Passenger movements through the airport indicate a positive trend with successive measures to unlock Indias economy. “With the relaxation of state regulations, the numbers are expected to further increase in the coming days and months”. The airport is getting most of its passengers from Western Assam as well as from the neighboring states of West Bengal and Meghalaya Airport Authority of India (AAI) had re-developed the World War-II era air strip located in Assam (Earlier in Dhubri district and at present under Bodoland Territory Region) at an estimated cost of Rs 69 crore and the foundation stone for it was laid by the then Assams Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in February 2019. The Rupsi airport which is spread across 337 acres, has a terminal building measuring 3,500 sq m and is equipped with 10 check-in counters, the official said,. The terminal is designed to manage about 200 passengers during peak hours and the newly built runway is suitable for landing ATR-72 type aircraft. The operationalisation of Rupsi Airport will help boost the local economy of the Bodoland area and provide better connectivity to air travelers of Dhubri and adjacent districts of Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Goalpara as well as districts in the neighboring states of Meghalaya, West Bengal and parts of Bhutan. PTI
