‘Thakurgaon Airport to resume operations within two years’

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday said flight operations at Thakurgaon Airport would resume within the next two years, with preparatory work already under way.

“The promises made by Tarique Rahman in Thakurgaon before the election have been implemented within just three months. As part of those pledges, work to reopen the airport has already begun. It will resume operations within the next two years,” he said.

Fakhrul came up with the remarks as he addressed a reception organised by the district BNP at the airport which has remained abandoned since the early 1980s.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Afroza Khanam was also present at the event as a full team from the ministry visited the site on the day.

The team said it would take around two years to reopen the airport through runway renovation, construction of a boundary wall and other infrastructure development work.

The airport was established in 1940 during the Second World War on 550 acres of land in the Shibganj-Madarganj area, about 8km southwest of the district town, for wartime strategic purposes.

It sustained damage during an air strike by the Indian Air Force in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, was renovated in 1977, and operated commercial flights for a few years before being shut down due to low passenger demand.