The number of passengers at the Bagdogra airport went up by 3.5 times and the flights by two times in the past decade, officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said on Saturday.

AAI officials at Bagdogra, the second busiest airport in Bengal after Calcutta, on Saturday shared the details of the rise and underscored that there had also been an increase in cargo movement.

According to them, the total number of passengers who had travelled through Bagdogra in the 2014-2015 fiscal year was 10.6 lakh. The figure increased to 36.5 lakh in the 2025-2026 financial year.

Similarly, in 2014-2015, the total number of flights which had operated from the airport was 10,125, which increased to 20,930 in 2025-2026.

“The passenger movement has increased by over three-and-a-half times while the flight operations have doubled. We expect the trend will go on in the coming years,” said an AAI official.

Also, in 2014-2015, the airport handled 2,235 metric tons of cargo, which increased by four times — 9,352 metric tons in the last fiscal.

“Bagdogra is the primary aviation gateway to north Bengal and the eastern Himalayas. Considering the steady rise in passenger traffic, the airport is undergoing a major transformation with a new state-of-the-art civil enclave, for which ₹1,549 crore has been sanctioned. The new terminal, with a slew of enhanced facilities, will have the capacity to handle around 10 million passengers per year,” the official added.

AAI sources also said flights had been launched to new routes like Navi Mumbai, Agartala, Pune and Imphal from Bagdogra in 2025-2026.

Some passenger-centric initiatives were also taken at the airport, ranging from the introduction of Digi Yatra, free wi-fi, ambulift facility, and shops selling Darjeeling Tea and Indian cuisine, the sources added.

Those associated with the tourism sector said the airport’s growth reaffirmed the surge in the footfall of tourists in the region.

“Bagdogra Airport is also the gateway to the major hill stations and other tourist destinations in north Bengal and Sikkim. The consistent rise in the number of passengers shows that the tourism sector is growing in the region. All of us are eagerly waiting for the completion of the construction of the new terminal and other infrastructure that would facilitate smoother movement of tourists and others through the airport,” said Samrat Sanyal, the general secretary of the Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network.

On June 16, the airport will observe the Yatri Suvidha Diwas, an initiative taken by the AAI to provide quality service to passengers, officials said.