Bir Tikendrajit International Airport

Bir Tikendrajit International Airport (Meitei: Imphal Malang Hithangpham)
IATA: IMF ICAO: VEIM
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Manipur
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Imphal
Location	Tulihal, Imphal, Manipur, India
Elevation AMSL	774 m / 2,540 ft
Coordinates	24°45′36″N 093°53′48″E
Website	Imphal Airport
Map
IMF Location of airport in Manipur Show map of Manipur IMF IMF (India) Show map of India
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,746 9,009 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2023 - March 2024)
Passengers 1,274,666 ( 3.3%) Aircraft movements 12,861 ( 6.3%) Cargo tonnage 4,478 ( 41.4%)
Source: AAI[1][2][3]

Bir Tikendrajit International Airport[a][4][5](IATA: IMF, ICAO: VEIM), also known as Imphal Airport,[b] and formerly known as Tulihal International Airport,[c] is an international airport serving Imphal, the capital of Manipur, India, located 7 km south from the city centre. It is the second largest and the third-busiest airport in North-East India after Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati and Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala. The airport replaced the former Koirengei Airfield in 1959.[6]

Development

In June 2019, Airports Authority of India (AAI) implemented ₹3,400 crore (US$390 million) projects for the upgradation of various airports in the northeastern region. ₹720 crore (US$83 million) will be spent for further upgradation of Imphal Airport.[7] The project includes a ₹600 crore (US$69 million) integrated terminal building and airside infrastructure like new aircraft parking bays (areas at an airport where aircraft can be parked, unloaded, loaded, refuelled, boarded, or maintained) and link taxiways, a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and a control and technical block.[8]

The new terminal building will have an area of 28,125 sq.m. to handle 1,200 peak hour passengers (200 international & 1,000 domestic), an apron with four aerobridges and eight parking bays for Airbus A321 type aircraft, two link taxiways, and an ATC tower.[9]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air India	Delhi, Dibrugarh,[10] Dimapur, Guwahati, Kolkata
Air India Express[11]	Delhi, Guwahati, Kolkata
Alliance Air	Aizawl,[12] Dimapur, Guwahati,[13] Kolkata, Silchar,[14] Tezu[15]
IndiGo	Agartala, Bangalore, Delhi,[16] Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Shillong[17]
Mingalar Aviation Services	Charter: Mandalay

Statistics

Busiest flights

Busiest flights out of Imphal per weekly, as of 12 July 2024.[18]

Rank	Destinations	Frequency (weekly)
1	Guwahati	38
2	Kolkata	35
3	Agartala	7
4	Aizawl	7
5	Delhi	7
6	Dibrugarh	7
7	Silchar	7
8	Dimapur	4
9	Shillong	3

Accidents and incidents

• On 16 August 1991, Indian Airlines Flight 257 crashed while on approach to the airport, killing all 69 people on board.[19]

Gallery

• 
  A trilingual signboard in the airport displaying in Meitei (officially called Manipuri), Hindi and English
• 
  A Child Care Room in the Imphal International Airport with a signboard in Meitei, Hindi and English languages, showing official multilingualism in India

See also

• Kangla Helipad (Manung Kangjeibung)
• Kakching Aerodrome

Notes

1. "Bir Tikendrajit International Airport" is named after Bir Tikendrajit (Meitei name: Athouba Koirengsana), a Meitei prince of the Ningthouja dynasty of Manipur Kingdom
2. "Imphal International Airport" is the most common name but not the official name of the airport. It is called so because it is located in the Imphal city of Manipur.
3. "Tulihal International Airport" is named after "Ebudhou Tulihal", a Meitei guardian deity of the area where the airport is located.

References

1. "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
2. "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
3. "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
4. "Renaming of Imphal Int'l Airport evokes reactions; orgs. demand revocation of resolution - Eastern Mirror". Eastern Mirror Nagaland. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
5. "Bir Tikendrajit International Airport Opposition raised against new name". The Sangai Express. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
6. Retd Lt Col M Ranjit Singh. "Koirengei Airfield: From airfield to a historical site or a parking space?". e-pao.net. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
7. "Agartala airport to be 3rd international airport in northeast". Economic Times. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.^[permanent dead link‍]
8. "Kitco to set up new terminal building at Imphal airport". The Hindu. 19 March 2019. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
9. "4 Bidders for Imphal Airport's New Terminal Contract". The Metro Rail Guy. 22 April 2022. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
10. "Air India domestic service increases from August 2022". Aeroroutes. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
11. "Air India Express Flight Schedule". Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
12. "Three new flights connecting Assam, Arunachal, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram launched; check schedule". Times Now. 30 October 2022. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
13. "Alliance Air Schedule". Alliance Air. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
14. "Alliance Air Flags Off Silchar–Imphal Flight Service: 30 Passengers To Reach Destination In 35 Mins". Barak Bulletin. 25 November 2022. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
15. "Alliance Air inaugurates Tezu-Imphal-Tezu route under the RCS UDAN Scheme on 18th Oct'24". Twitter. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
16. "New Flights Information, Status & Schedule | IndiGo". www.goindigo.in. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
17. "Shillong Airport new flights schedule". Twitter. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
18. "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map".
19. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-2A8 Advanced VT-EFL Imphal Municipal Airport (IMF)". aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2019.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

External links

Media related to Imphal International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Imphal Airport at the Airports Authority of India