West Bengal's 1st greenfield airport to be operational from May 18

KOLKATA: The first private greenfield airport in West Bengal is ready for commercial operation from May 18. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has informed this through Facebook.

It is learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be here on a two-day trip from Saturday, is likely to use this airport on Sunday for his return to Delhi.

“ I am delighted that India's first private greenfield airport set up in collaboration with Changi International Airport of Singapore is ready for commercial operation from 18th May, 2015 at Durgapur,“ Mamata said.

“Air India will fly to and fro from Kolkata. This will help people from Asansol-Durgapur and adjoining areas to travel to Delhi and Mumbai with great ease. I am happy that the operators have proposed to keep the fare reasonable and a special discount of 25% will be available to students, patients, family members of land givers for the project and all State Government officers. Our government has exempted sales tax on aviation turbine fuel for this airport till 2020-21 to make air travel affordable for common people,“ she said.