The Rupsi Airport in Assam’s Dhubri district became operational after 38 years on Saturday with the landing of the inaugural Flybig flight at the airport from Guwahati Airport.

The news has been confirmed by the Rupsi Airport authority.

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While sharing a picture of the inaugural flight on its Twitter handle, Rupsi Airport authority wrote: “The Historic Moment is here- Welcoming first commercial flight at #Rupsi Airport by @flybigairlines. Water cannon salute was accorded to inaugural flight today by #Airport authorities. The maiden flight arrived from Guwahati #Assam.”

The timings of the Flybig flight are: 8.35 am departure from Guwahati) – 9.10 am arrival at Rupsi airport; 9.40 am departure from Rupsi Airport  –  11.10 arrival at Kolkata Airport; 11.40 am departure from Kolkata – 1:20 pm arrival at Rupsi Airport and 3 pm departure from Rupsi Airport – 3.40 pm arrival at Guwahati Airport.

Also read: Assam: Rupsi Airport in Dhubri all set to be operational from May 8

The Flybig flights will be available on every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Northeast Now on May 5 reported that the direct flight service between Rupsi Airport to Guwahati and Kolkata would begin on May 8.

On May 5, Flybig Airlines conducted a successful trial of its flight at Rupsi Airport.

Kokrajhar Police on its social media had written: “Cloud is Clear-Long wait is Over; the Airport is going to be operational soon.”

“The Airport, which spreads across 337 acres, has a terminal building measuring 3,500 sq m. 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,” said AAI officials.

It is expected that the operationalization of the Rupsi Airport would help boost the local economy of the Bodoland area and provide better connectivity to the air travellers of the adjacent districts from Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Goalpara as well as districts in the neighbouring states of Meghalaya, West Bengal and parts of Bhutan as well.

Due to the current Covid19 situation, no inauguration programme was arranged by AAI on the occasion.

Ranjit Kr. Basumatary, Ukil Mushahary, Arup Kr. Dey, EM, BTC, Jayanta Basumatary and UG Brahma, MLA along with ex-MLA, Gauripur B. Mushahary were present on the occasion of the inauguration and welcomed the arriving and departing of the first flight with traditional attire like Gamusa, Arnai and Rajbongshi Gamusas.

AAI also welcomed the passengers in the same way.

Bhaskarjyoti Phukan, deputy commissioner and Rakesh Roshan, superintendent of police of Kokrajhar district also witnessed the historic moment at Rupsi Airport.

Among the prominent passengers, Nijanur Rehman, MLA, Gauripur travelled as a passenger from Guwahati to Rupsi.

Notably, the civil aviation ministry recently included Rupsi Airport along with 78 routes under Phase I Udan 4.0 Bonanza to North East under Act East Policy with an objective that ‘SAB UDEN SAB JUDEN’.

Rupsi Airport, was built during the World War –II, has restarted its operations after a gap of about 38 years.

The revival work of this much-awaited Rupsi Airport of lower Assam was completed a year ago in record period of 14 months and for the extraordinary work.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) Engineers Guild conferred the Rupsi Airport with ‘Sir Visvesvaraya Award’ on Engineering Day celebration for Excellent Services in Engineering during a programme held in New Delhi last year.

Though the airport was originally under the revenue circle of Dhubri district, the area was carved out and became a part of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) a few years ago.

On May, 24 of 2018, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had begun work on reviving the Rupsi airport by performing the “Bhumi Puja”.

The Airports Authority of India has developed the airport for both civil and defense operations.

As the airport’s location and proximity to Bangladesh, Myanmar and China is an additional advantage for the Indian Air Force (IAF) which has no air base in lower Assam.

Both the nearby airports — Lokpriya Gopinath Bordolai International Airport in Guwahati and Bagdogra International Airport at Siliguri in Bengal — are situated at a similar distance about 270 km from Rupsi Airport.