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| Inside Pakyong Airport in Sikkim |
Sikkim is
now part of India’s aviation map as Prime Minister Narendra Modi
inaugurated the State’s first airport at Pakyong on September 24. This
is also the 100th airport in the country.
The greenfield airport, located 30 km from capital Gangtok, will start its commercial operations from
the first week of October, according to the State Chief Secretary A.K.
Shrivastava. Spicejet’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft will ferry passengers
to and from Sikkim, Guwahati, and Kolkata.
Under the Union
government’s UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) regional connectivity scheme,
the private carrier will operate daily direct flights between Pakyong
and Kolkata from October 4 and between Pakyong and Guwahati from October
16. Pakyong is SpiceJet’s ninth destination under the scheme.
In the absence of flights to the State, people headed for Gangtok would
fly to Bagdogra airport in West Bengal’s Siliguri district, and then
journey over 100 km to reach Gangtok.
Pakyong Airport Located on top of a hill
The airport is spread over 201 acres
and is located on top of a hill about two km from Pakyong village, at
4,500 feet above sea level. The airport was constructed at an estimated
cost of Rs 605 crore and is an “engineering marvel” for its soil
reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the
altitude it was built at, Mr. Srivastava told PTI.
Integrated
structures comprising an ATC tower-cum-fire station, two sophisticated
CFT, one terminal building for passengers, high-intensity runway lights,
and parking for over 50 vehicles are some of the features of the
airport, the Chief Secretary said.
The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high, one of the tallest in the world, Mr. Srivastava said.
The 11th Finance Commission sanctioned Rs. 50 crore to build an airstrip in Sikkim in 2000. The State government chose Pakyong and kickstarted the process of acquiring land.
In 2006, under the UPA-1 government, the Union Cabinet’s Committee on Economic Affairs approved the construction of a greenfield airport at Pakyong with a 1,700-metre-long runway, two parking bays, and a terminal building to handle 100 passengers at a time.
The following year, the Punj Lloyd Group was awarded the contract to develop the airport.
On
March 10 this year, Spicejet’s aircraft touched down in Pakyong with
officials of the airline, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on board.
“I am
extremely happy to know that the maiden flight of SpiceJet to Pakyong
airport landed safely,” Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling said
in the Legislative Assembly, adding that it was “a momentous occasion
for Sikkim and the Sikkimese people.”
Pakyong Situated around 60 km from India-China border
The Pakyong airport is located around 60 km from the India-China border.
The
airport’s 1.75-km runway has a width of 30 metre. It has a
116-metre-long taxiway connecting it to an apron measuring 106 metre by
76 metre that can simultaneously accommodate two ATR-72 aircraft.
Another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway is being
constructed for the use of the Indian Air Force.
The airport that has a 3,000 sq metre terminal building has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passengers.
(With inputs from PTI)
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