Bagdogra Airport, is located in about west of the city of
Siliguri, away from
Jalpaiguri and away from
Darjeeling, the cities which the airport mainly serves, in the
Darjeeling district in northern
West Bengal, India. It is operated as a
civil enclave at AFS Bagdogra of the
Indian Air Force. It is the gateway airport to the
hill stations of
Darjeeling,
Kurseong and
Kalimpong and other portions of the
North Bengal region in the
Indian state of
West Bengal, and sees thousands of tourists annually. The airport is a major stop in the region with flights connecting
Kolkata,
New Delhi,
Mumbai,
Bangalore,
Chennai and
Guwahati. The airport also has regular
helicopter flights to
Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. The central government of India conferred
customs airport status to the airport in 2002 with limited international operations. Air traffic at Bagdogra crossed 1 million for the first time growing at 43.6% percent in 2014-15. This is one of the few airports in India with zero sales tax on aviation turbine fuel.