People connected with the Tourism Industry of Nepal,
India and Bhutan are waiting for the answer to the critical question
whether Bagdogra Airport will be opened to flights from neighboring
countries like Nepal and Bhutan.
Mr. Anup Chachan, member of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hotel Owner's Association, said that some inspection has already
been made by the Necon Airlines of Nepal and Druk Airlines of Bhutan
in this regard. The information was not confirmed by the officials
of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) at Bagdogra.
A senior officer of AAI commented that with the present facilities
Bagdogra may accommodate two more flights of Airbus 320, which carries
165 passengers. Mr. Sharad Yadav (Civil Aviation Minister of India)
while inaugurating the civil terminal of the Airport had confirmed
about accommodating flights from the SAARC countries, and declared
a budget of Rs. 11.43 crore for upgradation of the airport. Although
about two years have passed since then, nothing much has changed on
the ground. The matter became worse when both the defense and civil
aviation had a conflict over the control of the newly constructed
1.1km road that connects the civil terminal with NH31.A leading tourism
expert on the region said that the region is loosing about 30,000
tourists including foreigners, due to lack of an International Airport.
Tourists are facing problems, as they are keen to visit Nepal, Bhutan,
Sikkim and Darjeeling in a short time. The nearest airport in Nepal
is Biratnagar and Bhadrapur, tourists traveling to those airports
has to travel extra few hours to reach Darjeeling or Sikkim.
The tourists directly fly to Kolkata, Banaras or Delhi from Bhutan's
Paro Airport and thus the region misses out on these tourists. |
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