The Honourable Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi inaugurated the Pakyong airport, nine years after the foundation stone of the first and only airport of Sikkim was laid. The Greenfield airport is expected to boost tourism in this state nested in the Himalayas.
Pakyong airport is around 33km away from Gangtok. The commercial flight operations from this airport are scheduled to begin from 4th October, said the Pakyong Airport Director R Manjunatha.
The PM addressed the people after the inauguration he said, the Pakyong Airport is the “symbol of our engineering skills”. He also congratulated all the engineers and workers who planned and built the airport.
The airport is an ‘engineering marvel’ for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilization techniques, keeping in mind the altitude it is built at. It is built at an estimated cost of Rs. 605 crore. Located about 60km from Indo-China border, Pakyong airport has a runway of 1.75km. The airport is spread across 201 acres and is located at the top of a hill about two km above Pakyong village at 4,500ft above sea level.
SpiceJet will operate 78-seater Bombardier Q400 flights to and from Delhi, Kolkata, and Guwahati.
