Silchar in south Assam might become the first place of the Northeast to have two airports.

A five-member committee of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) completed its two-day visit to Silchar on Tuesday to see the land and infrastructure for proposed international-level airport in Cachar district.

If the airport is constructed, the existing Kumbhirgram airport, 25km from Silchar town, will be used to transport goods.

The Kumbhirgram airport is located on Air Force authority land.

The members of the AAI team were Varun Kumar Lau, Manjit Singh, Soumen Podder, Sunil Kumar and Rajpal Lawasia.

They visited Silcoorie, Dolu and Khoril and mainly observed the infrastructure, feasibility, connection with Silchar town, passenger amenities and other technical issues related to an international-level airport.

They will submit a report to the authorities and the findings will be discussed in the AAI meeting, sources said.

It is a preliminary survey and there will be more surveys if the Centre approves the proposal.

The AAI sent the team after it received a request from the Assam government for the new airport in Silchar for Barak Valley.

The Cachar district administration sent a financial proposal of Rs 61.34 crore for the expansion of Kumbhirgram airport a couple of years ago. The state government had given a green signal for the 116.5-acre land of Kumbhirgram tea garden adjacent to the airport.

Former MP of Silchar Sushmita Dev demanded the start of night-landing facilities in the airport for the benefit of passengers travelling outside the state.

According to statistics, Silchar airport is the second busiest airport of the state after Guwahati. There were 2.12 lakh passengers during 2016-17. The number increased to 3.80 lakh in 2017-18.