Pakyong Is Ready, But DGCA Is Not

Landlocked Sikkim now has its own airport in Pakyong. Built painstakingly over the last nine years – the airport has been carved out of a mountain – it recently received two trial flights, an IAF Dornier and a SpiceJet Q400. However, the DGCA is yet to give its go-ahead.

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After nine years of painstakingly heavy construction work at a high-altitude mountainous terrain, the newly constructed Pakyong airport in Sikkim is ready for operations. This is the third airfield near the strategically-located Siliguri corridor (after Bagdogra airport and Hasimara Air Force station) with a concrete/asphalt paved long runway for handling fixed wing and heavy aircraft.

One of the highest airports in the country, Pakyong airport will serve in a dual civilian-military role and will help in the mobilization of troops along with heavy weapon supplies towards the India-China border in North Sikkim by bypassing the Bagdogra airport near Siliguri.