Gangtok: Flight services at the Pakyong Airport in Sikkim resumed on Tuesday after months of suspension due to operational difficulties. The services restarted with a Spicejet plane taking off for Delhi with 43 passengers.
The closure of the airport had been a major inconvenience for the people of the state as well as a major setback for the tourism industry of Sikkim.
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The flight, which landed at the Pakyong airport with 12 passengers, was the only carrier that used to run the services on this route prior to suspending operations.
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The airport, located 26. 8 km from the state capital Gangtok, is also known as the first greenfield airport in the northeast.
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Regular flight services will start on March 26 with a daily flight to Delhi, while the nearby Bagdogra airport in West Bengal’s Siliguri is around 123 km from Gangtok.
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Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had earlier written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for resuming flight services.
According to an official, the Pakyong airport is a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) airport and does not have instrument landing facilities, with a required minimum of 5,000 feet to operate from the airport, which is difficult to achieve on most days of the year, especially during the winter months.