Guwahati: In a major boost to regional connectivity scheme, Rupsi Airport, a facility which served as a base for Allied forces during World War-II, in western Assam extended regular flight services to Kolkata and Guwahati on six days of a week barring Monday.
The air service started from Friday wherein the flights from the Rupsi Airport will directly connect to Kolkata and Guwahati by FlyBig airlines.
“We are happy to announce that the Rupsi Airport will now be operating flights everyday except Monday, It was among the major demands of the passengers travelling through this airport,” Hemang Arora, airport in-charge, Rupsi Airport, said.
“We continue to provide better amenities to our passengers and stakeholders at Rupsi, which has provided much-needed flight services under the government’s flagship programme, UDAN, to people of this area,” Arora said.
It may be mentioned that Rupsi Airport near Dhubri town has been re-developed under the Regional Connectivity Scheme RCS-UDAN.
The airport was opened for people in May 2021 when the first commercial flight of Flybig airline landed at Rupsi, marking the resumption of flight operations at the airport after over three and half decades.
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Till January 2022, over 3, 11,000 passengers have travelled through Rupsi Airport and it has recorded 578 scheduled flight movements during the period.
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.
Flybig was awarded routes under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme to operate flight service at Rupsi by the Union ministry of civil aviation, through a bidding process.
The airline operates flights on the Guwahati- Rupsi-Kolkata route and back. Initially it operated on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
The AAI has re-developed Rupsi airport at an estimated cost of Rs 69 crore.
Spread across 337 acres, the airport has a terminal building measuring 3,500 sqm.
Equipped with 10 check-in counters, the terminal is designed to manage about 200 passengers during peak hours. The newly built runway is suitable for landing ATR-72 type aircraft.
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