After serving three years as the Chief Airport Officer of the  Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati, Utpal Baruah stepped down from his role on July 2.

Utpal Baruah has been instrumental in creating the base of Adani run Guwahati International Airport Limited (GIAL) at Guwahati while developing the Master Plan and paving the way for the concession period i.e. 50 years.

His emotional involvement in the airport showed conspicuous changes in creating new facilities and bringing about local aesthetics at the existing terminal. He pioneered a vision of LGBI Airport to be a regional hub enabling citizens of Northeast India to reach any city of the country and come back home within 24 hours.

In the international arena, he worked to make the airport an international hub to connect airports in the SARC countries directly from Guwahati. In the last three years, Guwahati airport connected with four international destinations (Kuala Lumpur from Aug 2024). Besides this, he supported the Government of Assam to develop a cargo market in the region.

The sudden development stunned most of the airport employees. While connecting Baruah, he told, “I have done my bit for the development of Guwahati airport to the best of my ability. I decide to move on as someone is there to lead the airport now.”

When enquiring about the reason of his resignation, he said, “Several anonymous communications have been sent about certain developments at the airport, and owing to moral responsibility as the accountable executive, I decide to step down.”