Located nearly 460 kilometres west of Kerala's Kochi city, the Agatti atoll houses the lone airstrip available in the union territory of Lakshadweep

The Dornier-228 Maritime patrol aircraft of the Indian Navy made history by performing a night landing at the country's only airstrip in the Lakshadweep archipelago, on the western seaboard. Located nearly 460 kilometres west of Kerala's Kochi city, the Agatti atoll houses the lone airstrip available in the union territory of Lakshadweep.

While the airstrip there, operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was inaugurated in April 1988 for the operation of Dornier-228, the operations were extended to the ATR-72 aircraft in September 2010. However, owing to the short runway length and limited airfield services available, both civil and military aircraft operated only during daylight hours.

Under the aegis of the Indian Navy, the Southern Naval Command (the lone training command of the Indian Navy) took the initiative to overcome this limitation and worked with AAI and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The maiden night landing was successfully carried out on October 13. As part of the trials, multiple approaches and landings were carried out from both sides of the runway to validate the suitability of operations.

The successful night trials would enable future night operations of the Navy's Dornier-228 aircraft and boost the Navy's efforts towards round-the-clock maritime surveillance and support to the islands.