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Bagdogra Airport (ICAO VEBD, IATA IXB) lies at Bagdogra on the western edge of Siliguri in northern West Bengal, operating as a civil enclave within the Indian Air Force's Bagdogra Air Force Station. It is the principal gateway by air to Darjeeling, Gangtok, Sikkim and nearby parts of Bhutan, and for the simulator pilot it offers the mix of a single long instrument runway, shared military and civil traffic, and a dramatic sub-Himalayan setting.
Bagdogra Airport serves the city of Siliguri in West Bengal and is operated by the Airports Authority of India as a civil enclave on land owned by the Indian Air Force. It functions as the main air gateway to the hill stations of Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik, as well as to Gangtok and Sikkim, and it holds limited international status with services to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi and Paro in Bhutan. The combination of a busy civil schedule sharing a single runway with active Indian Air Force fighter and helicopter operations makes it a distinctive field for a VFR or IFR visit in the simulator.
The airfield sits at Bagdogra, about 12 km south-west of Siliguri town centre, in the Darjeeling district of northern West Bengal. It is co-located with the Bagdogra Air Force Station, home to the Indian Air Force's No. 20 Wing, including MiG-21 fighters of No. 8 Squadron and a helicopter unit, and it supports military air traffic for the Indian Army's XXXIII Corps based at nearby Sukna. Together with the airbase at Hasimara in Alipurduar district, Bagdogra covers combat air operations over northern West Bengal, Sikkim and, if required, Bhutan.
Bagdogra has a single physical runway, 18/36, 9,152 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. Runway 36 is equipped with an ILS, while runway 18 offers a lit non-precision approach direction.
Air-to-ground service is available on 293.1 MHz. Approach control (RDO) works on 131.2 MHz and the tower on 122.3 MHz. An ILS serves runway 36 for instrument approaches; the IAF maintains the air traffic control and runway infrastructure at the field.
Bagdogra began as an Indian Air Force station and continues to operate under IAF ownership, with the Airports Authority of India running the civil enclave. Passenger traffic grew rapidly through the 2010s, passing one million for the first time in 2014-15 with 43.6 per cent annual growth, and by 2019-20 the airport was handling 3.2 million passengers, making it the 17th-busiest in India. Facilities were expanded from 2010, when the West Bengal government transferred 14.5 acres for night-landing infrastructure and the apron was enlarged to take five narrow-body aircraft simultaneously; the IAF permitted civilian night landings from 2013. The runway was closed for a fortnight in April 2022 for refurbishment, and a new terminal building begun in late 2024 is expected to be completed by March 2027, adding a parallel taxiway. The field has seen several notable incidents: a MiG-21 belly-landed and caught fire after a technical snag in May 2008, an Air India A320 swerved off the taxiway in July 2013, an IndiGo and an Air India aircraft received a TCAS resolution advisory in July 2014, an Air Asia India A320 damaged its wing sharklets while backtracking the runway in February 2019, an IndiGo A320neo made an emergency landing with an engine issue in December 2019, and an Indian Air Force Antonov An-32 crashed on landing in March 2025.
Bagdogra continues to operate as a mixed military and civil aerodrome, with the Indian Air Force responsible for air traffic control and the runway while the Airports Authority of India runs the civil enclave serving domestic carriers and limited international routes to Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi and Paro. Substantial redevelopment is under way, including a new terminal designed to handle 12.5 million passengers a year with a parallel taxiway, expected to be complete by 2027.
