Pakyong Airport to finally become operational this month

Pakyong Airport, near Gangtok in Sikkim, will likely become operational by this month. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu recently received the license to start commercial operation for Sikkim airport, around 30 km from the state capital, Gangtok.
The flight operation will be carried out by the private carrier, SpiceJet, which has received the permission to fly from Kolkata to Pakyong Airport. It also carried out a test flight on May 10. The test flight, Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, was a 78-seater plane that landed successfully at the runway, which is 4500 ft above sea level.

Till date, Sikkim is the only state in the country that has no functional airport. It is expected that with this initiative, the state will register growth in tourism and economic development. As of now, to reach Gangtok, travellers first fly to Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal, and then take a cab to cover the rest of 4.5 hour drive.
The airport, being the first in Sikkim, boasts of a lot of impressive features. It is the first greenfield airport in Northeast India and covers an area of 990 ac. At a height of 4590 ft, this is one of the five highest altitude airports in India. The project for constructing this airport was sanctioned 11 years ago, yet due to some contention over land acquisition, the project kept on getting delayed. However, now the airport is ready to become operational after it got a nod from the Airport Authority of India.