Spicejet Airlines has decided to suspend its flight operations at Sikkim’s only airport Pakyong from October 30 till further notice due to operational requirements.
Pakyong Airport is a greenfield RCS airport in Pakyong, India, near Gangtok, the state capital of Sikkim. The airport is located in Pakyong town, about 31 kilometers (22 miles) south of Gangtok, on 201 acres (81 hectares).
Pakyong Airport is one of India’s five tallest at 4646 feet. It is also the first greenfield airport built in India’s Northeast and the only airport in the state of Sikkim.
While addressing about the same through a letter to the Director of Pakyong Airport, the airline wrote, “SpiceJet has decided to suspend operations out of Pakyong from October 30, 2022, till further notice. It is due to operational requirements.”
It further added “In view of the above, may we request you to kindly consider this communication as official correspondence on the captioned subject. Further would request your good office to intimate the pendency dues”,
The Pakyong Airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 2018 to improve the connectivity of the state and to boost the state tourism.
Pakyong airport classified as one of the most scenic airports became the 100th operational airport in India. But the airport has faced low visibility issues because of weather conditions.The airport had no flights for nearly 20 months.
After being suspended from June 2019 onwards because of unpredictable weather, poor visibility, and lack of proper landing facilities the operations resumed in January 2021 . The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in January 2021 approved a new landing procedure for Pakyong increasing reliabilityand allowing SpiceJet to resume services to Pakyong from Delhi and Kolkata.
