Agartala: Private passenger airline Air Deccan ran a trial flight from Agartala to Dimapur via Shillong on Thursday to familiarise itself with the route.
Scheduled flights will commence on May 1, Agartala airport director S.D. Burman said.
The flight, operated under the Centre's regional connectivity scheme, took off from Calcutta and landed at Agartala at 10.14am, he added. It departed for Shillong at 10.50am, where fire-fighters welcomed the ATR aircraft with a grand water salute.
It flew to Dimapur in Nagaland in the afternoon and later flew back to Agartala via Calcutta.
"The flight timings are likely to change due to uncertain delays at intermediate stoppages. The trial flight was meant to find out problems on the route. There will be checks and a regular flight schedule will be communicated later," Burman said.
Air Deccan, which was shortlisted under the Centre's UDAN scheme, had initially announced that it would operate flights from February 28. It could not, however, do so because of certain formalities and as graphic designs related to UDAN scheme had to be painted on the aircraft.
On April 1, an Air Deccan release had said flights would commence on the Calcutta-Agartala-Shillong route after April 15, without specifying any date. It said small aircraft would be operated on the route.
UDAN, which was started in 2017 for low-cost air travel air in the region, aims to promote regional airport development and regional air connectivity. It mandates fares to be restricted to Rs 2,500 per head.
Burman said the Agartala airport annually handles 13.5 lakh passengers.
The Assembly recently resolved to rename the airport Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore International Airport. Funds have already been sanctioned to modernise the airport in accordance with international standards.