10-year wait comes to an end as Andal airport gets a lounge
Times of India | 12 April 2025
123 Kolkata: A 1,500 sq ft lounge is now operational at the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (KNIA) in Durgapur, fulfilling the long-standing demand of corporate executives and businessmen who frequently fly out of or into the airport.
The tastefully designed lounge, which serves north Indian, south Indian, and continental cuisines, is operated by Flurys. In addition to the lounge, there are multiple food outlets in the terminal's departure area.
"The lounge has been well received by flyers. Since several companies are situated in the airport's catchment area, many executives use the airport. So do businessmen and traders. The lounge is an important facility for all of them," said KNIA director Kailash Mandal.
Rohit Khaitan of the Raniganj Chamber of Commerce said the lounge facility was a welcome addition. "We hope more facilities will get augmented at the airport," he said. Mission Hospital chairman and senior cardiac surgeon Satyajit Bose added: "The lounge was much needed."
The 60,000 sq ft passenger terminal has an annual capacity of handling 12 lakh passengers per annum. In 2024-25, the terminal handled just over 5 lakh passengers.
At present, the airport has seven daily flights. These include five A-320 services to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. In addition, there are two daily ATR-72 services, one connecting Bhubaneswar to Durgapur daily and the other connecting Bagdogra four days a week and Guwahati on the remaining three days. All the flights are operated by IndiGo Airlines.
The airport, which started operations in 2015, faced turbulence in the initial years with Air India operating infrequently and private non-scheduled carrier Zoom Air before the airline was grounded. Thereafter, in 2019, SpiceJet started flight operations to Mumbai and Chennai before it too stopped flights in 2023 due to a cash crunch. While the airport is currently operational between 12.25 pm and 6 pm, Mandal said efforts were on to get airlines to operate beyond these hours. "We have a CAT-I instrument landing system as well as ground lighting necessary for operations after sunset," said Mandal.