Guwahati: Rupsi Airport, a World War-II era airstrip in western Assam’s Dhubri district, achieved its first landmark, completing a year of resumption of operations on Sunday.
The airstrip, which has been redeveloped, operated and maintained by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) under the regional connectivity scheme, UDAN 4.0, had served the first commercial flight, an ATR-72 type aircraft operated by Flybig in the Guwahati-Rupsi-Kolkata and Kolkata-Rupsi-Guwahati sectors.
AAI sources informed that the World War-II era airport handled a total of 744 flights with a passenger footfall of 26,181 in its first year of operations.
“Rupsi Airport has provided connectivity to the locality which has boosted tourism and trade in the region,” Hemang Arora, officer-in-charge, Rupsi Airport informed.
“Initially, flight operations at Rupsi Airport were scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and now we have flights to and from Guwahati and Kolkata all days in a week except Monday,” Arora said, while extending his gratitude to passengers for successful operations during the year.
Rupsi Airport mainly caters to passengers from Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon districts of Assam and Cooch Behar, Aliduarpur districts of West Bengal and parts of Bhutan, among others.
AAI has re-developed Rupsi airport at an estimated cost of Rs 69 crore.
“People visiting various historical and religious places such as GauripurRajbari, Gurudwara Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, Dhubri, Raimona National Park, Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary, etc. take the services of Rupsi Airport,” an official statement said.
The airport is situated across 337 acres and has a terminal building of 3500 square metres with peak passenger handling capacity of 250.
It has a single runway with two parking bays for ATR-72 type aircraft.
Rupsi Airport had served as a base for the Allied forces during World War-II to supply manpower and ammunition, and was poised to resume functions after flight operations came to a halt back in the mid-1980s.
“Chocolates and gifts were distributed among passengers and airport staff, stakeholders and their family members on the completion of one after resumption of operations at the airport,” the statement said.
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