Bagdogra Airport
Bagdogra Airport or Civil Aerodrome Bagdogra is a military airport that is open for civilian flights. The airport is located in the town of Bagdogra, about 16 km (9.9 mi) from the city of Siliguri in the Darjeeling district in northern West Bengal, India. The airport is a major stop in the region with flights connecting Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Guwahati. The airport sees thousands of tourists annually, most destined to the hill station towns of Darjeeling, Kurseong, Mirik, and Kalimpong and the state of Sikkim.The airport also has an aerodrome, with regular helicopter flights to Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. Foreign tourist permits are made in this airport for those intending to journey to Sikkim. The airport infrastructure is being upgraded.Two new aprons have been inaugurated at Bagdogra Airport. The aerodrome operates eight to nine flights a day and had only three aprons earlier. Currently, at least five aircraft can be parked at one time. The old aprons are being revamped to bring it to the level of the new ones so that there is parking space for six planes. Reports available with AAI indicated that traffic has substantially increased in Bagdogra. In November 2007, 31,854 passengers had availed of 430 flights. In 2008, the number of passengers for the same month is 51,914 who travelled on 558 flights.
