Bagdogra airport closes till Apr 25 for maintenance
Kolkata/IBNS: The Bagdogra airport has been closed from Monday for a period of 15 days till April 25 for thorough maintenance of the runway which has suffered damages and led to temporary closures on many occasions in the last few weeks, media reports said.
"The airport will be closed for operations from April 11 to April 25 due to resurfacing work of the final layer of the flexible portion of the runway. The IAF had been working on the repair work of the runway at night for the last 2 years and hence flights were operating till 6:00 p.m. Now the work will be done in the final layer and is likely to be completed within 15 days.
"Both the ends of the runway have been completed now we are left with the middle portion of the runway hence the closure. Once the work is completed we will be able to operate more flights and the timing of operation will also be extended," Subramani P, the Bagdogra airport director was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
The Bagdogra airport is the major transport hub in the region and is the gateway to some important tourist destinations in North Bengal as well as the Northeast.
It handles 56 movements of flights and around 10,000 passengers a day.
The airport's closure is forcing the people to look for alternative routes to reach hilly destinations in the northern part of West Bengal and others who had planned to reach Sikkim via Bagdogra airport as flying through Pakyong airport is worrisome due to the uncertainty in weather.
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