Kolkata airport traditionally served as a strategic stopover on the air route from Europe to Indochina and Australia.[6] Many pioneering flights passed through the airport, including Amelia Earhart’s in 1937.[7] In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Calcutta, as part of their Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta) route.[8] The same year, a Royal Air Force aircraft landed in Calcutta as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force.[9]
The airport began as an open ground next to the Royal Artillery Armoury in Dum Dum.[10] Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Calcutta aerodrome in February 1929.[11] In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year,[12] and other airlines began to utilise the airport. Air Orient began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon route,[13] and Imperial Airways began flights from London to Australia via Calcutta in 1933.[14] This began a trend that drew many airlines to Calcutta airport.
Calcutta played an important role in the Second World War. In 1942, the United States Army Air Forces 7th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberator bombers from the airport on combat missions over Burma. The airfield was used as a cargo aerial port for the Air Transport Command, and was also used as a communication centre for the Tenth Air Force