The State of the Mizoram is land locked and therefore, like in any other State in the North eastern India, air transport is the most convenient mode of transportation. The road distances from Aizawl to cities with major airlinks are generally very large. The road distance from Calcutta to Aizawl is 1600km and from Calcutta to Bairabi (nearest railhead) is 1489 km. Bairabi is still at the distance of 130 km from Aizawl. Silchar which has an airport is also about 190km from the Aizawl. Presently, Aizawl has a small air strip at Turial where only small aircraft like Dornier can land. Being the fair weather operation, the flight schedule remains uncertain and confined to only about 200 days in a year. Average number of passenger on each day of operation varies between two to ten passengers. The balance air traffic to Aizawl therefore is from Silchar airport which is connected by a daily Boeing operation from Calcutta and Gauhati. It is apparent that the air transport facility is a necessity for people of Mizoram. Based on traffic survey report, (Anon., 1995) it is expected that 225 passengers per day will use the proposed airport.

The annual traffic would work out to 82000 persons per year and is likely to have an annual increase of 8%. In view of the constraint in the economic growth of the State imposed by lack of air transportation facility for goods and services, Planning Commission of India sanctioned the construction of an airport at Lengpui at the total cost of Rs.45 crores based on estimate prepared by Govt. of Mizoram and vetted by the National Airport Authority. Revisions in the earlier financial proposal have now been made to accommodate the changes required in the design of the airport to cater to the needs of the traffic growth until the year 2031. The revised budget for the airport is now estimated to be Rs.70 crores.