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Cooch Behar Airport
Cooch Behar Airport
	IATA: COH; ICAO: VECO;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Airports Authority of India
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Cooch Behar and Alipurduar
Location	Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India
Opened	1945; 80 years ago
Elevation AMSL	141 ft / 43 m
Coordinates	26°19′52″N 89°28′06″E / 26.33111°N 89.46833°E
Website	Coochbehar Airport
Map
	COH Location of the airport in West Bengal COH COH (India)
Runways
Statistics (April 2022 – March 2023)
Passengers
Passengers	4,384 ( 114.6%)
Aircraft movements	568 ( 879.3%)
Cargo tonnage	—
	Source: AAI

Cooch Behar Airport (IATA: COH, ICAO: VECO)^[1] is a domestic airport serving the city of Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India and parts of North Bengal and Assam. It is located 6.2 km (3.9 mi) from the city centre. The airport is spread over an area of 173 acres.^[5]

Facilities

The airport is located at an elevation of 141 feet (43 m) above mean sea level.^[6] It has one runway designated 04/22 with an asphalt surface, measuring 3,507 by 100 feet (1,069 by 30 m) without an instrument landing system. The airport can handle only flights using visual flight rules during the day. Improvements in radar as well as other runway systems have been completed, such as installation of lights on the runway, while the instrument landing system will be installed in the near future. There is presently a high security team residing in the airport which uses a non-directional beacon for navigation services. Commercial services resumed from Cooch Behar with IndiaOne Air starting flights to Kolkata on 21 February 2023.^[7]

Entrance of the airport
Terminal building of the airport

Recent developments

In March 2020, lights were installed in the boundaries of the airport and the runway was repaired. Security was also increased in and around the premises.

While the longstanding demand of residents to resume flights from the airport in North Bengal remains unfulfilled for over 25 years, the Airports Authority of India revamped and operationalised the Rupsi Airport at Rupsi in Kokrajhar district of Assam to restart services after three decades, to handle the traffic. However, it mostly handles the traffic from Dhubri, the city it serves, and it adjoining regions from Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, etc. and does not acts as a solution to Cooch Behar, because that airport is 70 km (43 mi) from it, so it is too far to cater the traffic.

The airport's license was valid till 27 January 2021, but the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India) decided not to renew the license until further notice.^[8] As of February 2023, it received its license again to restart commercial operations, with daily flights to Kolkata operated by the new low-cost regional airline, IndiaOne Air.^[7]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
IndiaOne Air	Kolkata^[7]

Future expansion

There have been talks between the Government of West Bengal and the Airports Authority of India to expand the runway length to accommodate larger aircraft.^[9] Developments related to the airport boundary and lights were also done.

In a meeting between the Cooch Behar district administration and the Airports Authority of India in September 2023, plans were laid to operate two flights daily from the airport. A plan for a Cooch behar to Guwahati flight service was also discussed.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b "ICAO Location Indicators by State" (PDF). International Civil Aviation Organization. 12 January 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
^ "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
^ "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
^ "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
^ "Airports Authority of India". Archived from the original on 25 February 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
^ "Aerodrome Chart" (PDF). Aeronautical Information Management. 1 July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Banerjee, Tamaghna, Bhattacharya, Pinak Priya (22 February 2023). "Cooch Behar back on West Bengal's aviation map". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 February 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Cooch Behar airport wings clipped for now". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
^ "Government plans to expand Cooch Behar runway". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
^ "Plan to launch one more flight: Upgrade of Cooch Behar airport in progress". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.