News & Updates

Bagdogra Opens for International Traffic with Druk Air

Druk Air Bhutan starts flights via Bagdogra to Bangkok

The small town of Siliguri, with its nearby airport Bagdogra (IXB) will soon see flights between Paro and Bangkok land here. Yesterday (18 June, 2009), the foreign ministers of Bhutan and India inaugurated the maiden flight. This is historic for the area as it is the first international flight to land in Bagdogra. Bhutanese travelling to and from North eastern states will now have the option to take this flight and avoid the hassles of the tedious, and often hazardous, road condition between Phuentsholing and Thimphu or Paro. The flight will also help tourists visiting Bhutan along with Sikkim and Darjeeling or other north eastern states. For Druk Air, advantages not only include increased traffic, during the bad weather in Paro, it can land at Bagdogra airport, without having to go all the way back to Kolkata.

Drukair is scheduled to fly twice a week to Bangkok via Bagdogra, on Tuesdays and Saturdays and return from Bagdogra on Wednesdays and Sundays. For tour operator like us in Bhutan, who have had difficulties picking and dropping off tourist at Bagdogra, due to Thimphu-Phuentsholing road conditions, it is also bit of a relief. Photo - Kuensel