Agartala, Mar 10 (IANS): Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday said that the state's Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) airport would soon be declared an international airport.

The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport in Guwahati and the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal are currently the international airports in the region.

Unveiling a 5-feet-high bronze statue of Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Bahadur, the last ruler of the Manikya dynasty in the erstwhile princely state, at the airport, the Chief Minister said that the BJP-IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura) alliance government is working hard to start air connectivity with Bangladesh from the airport at the earliest.

The statue was built by artists of the Tripura Government College of Art and Craft.

Saha also said that no one considered Tripura to have the potential of having one of the best airports in northeast India.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transformed the outlook towards the region with the "Act East Policy", boosting all communication infrastructure, he said 30-32 flights operate from the MBB airport regularly with over 4,000 passengers travelling daily.

“We have been taking it up repeatedly with the Civil Aviation Ministry the issue of making it an international airport. We are engaging with the Central government to resolve the necessary formalities relating to immigration and international air connectivity," the Chief Minister said.

He said that the state government wants the first flight to Chittagong in Bangladesh to start as fast as possible.

Little over 20 km north of the state capital, the Agartala Airport, earlier known as Singerbill Airport, was renamed after Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur by the Union government in July 2018. In terms of handling of aircraft and passengers, the MBB airport is the second busiest airport in northeastern India after LGBI Airport in Guwahati.

Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the new integrated terminal building of MBB Airport, built at a cost of Rs 500 crore, on January 4, 2022. According to Airport Authority of India officials, with a built-up area of 30,000 sq. metres, the new terminal building has been designed to handle 1,000 domestic and 200 international passengers during peak hours and is equipped with all modern amenities.

Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury, while addressing the event, said that all necessary steps are being taken with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Bureau of Immigration and their clearances are expected soon.

The Agartala airport was built in 1942 after the land was donated by the then Tripura king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur and was used as a technical base for the Royal Air Force during World War II.