Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is an international airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and is the aviation hub for eastern and northeastern India. It is located approximately from the city centre. The airport is locally known as Kolkata Airport and Dum Dum Airport before being renamed in 1995 after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement. Opened in 1924, Kolkata Airport is one of the oldest airports in India. Spread over an area of , Kolkata Airport is the largest hub for air traffic in the eastern part of the country and one of two international airports operating in West Bengal, the other being Bagdogra in Siliguri. The airport handled around 11 million passengers in the financial year 2021–22, making it the fifth-busiest airport in India in terms of passenger traffic after airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. The airport is a major centre for flights to Northeast India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Southeast Asia and the Middle Eastern cities of Dubai and Doha. In 2014 and 2015, Kolkata Airport won the title of Best Improved Airport in the Asia-Pacific region awarded by the Airport Council International. The airport was awarded the best airport by hygiene measures in Asia-Pacific in 2020 by Airports Council International. History Early history Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport was founded in the early 1900s as the Calcutta Aerodrome. The airport traditionally served as a strategic stopover on the air route from North America and Europe to Indochina and Australia. Dakota 3 was the first aircraft to land in the airport. In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Calcutta, as part of their Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta) route. The same year, a Royal Air Force aircraft landed in Calcutta as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force. The airport began as an open ground next to the Royal Artillery Armoury in Dum Dum. Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Dum Dum/Calcutta aerodrome in February 1929. In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year, and other airlines began to utilize the airport. Air Orient began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon route and Imperial Airways began flights from London to Australia via Calcutta in 1933, thus drew many airlines to Calcutta Airport. Many pioneering flights passed through the