Pakyong Airport
Pakyong Airport, Pakyong Information
Pakyong Airport is a Greenfield airport near Gangtok, the state capital of Sikkim, India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Sikkim's first and India's 100th airport in Pakyong. The state-of-the-art airport is Northeast India's first Greenfield airstrip, which means it was constructed from undeveloped/empty fields from the scratch. Nestled among the clouds at 4,500 ft above the ground level, with a breathtaking view of the scenic Pakyong valley, the construction of this airport opens doors for Sikkim's tourism. Sometimes an airport is just a strip of asphalt on a flat bit of land outside of town. Other times, as with India's new Pakyong Airport, it's a breathtaking piece of engineering on the roof of the world. Set in the Himalayan mountains at a height of over 1,400 meters (4,593 feet), the facility serving a remote area of Sikkim state offers one of the most dramatic airports approaches on the planet. As part of that work, an 80.38 meter embankment was built to make space for the 1.7-kilometer-long and 30-meter-wide runway, which is enclosed by deep valleys. The airport's 2,380-square-meter terminal can accommodate up to 100 passengers. The Pakyong airport is located in the Pakyong Village, 35kms south of Gangtok besides the Dikling Monastery and the National Research Centre for Orchids which creates an ecstatic vibe.
First commercial flights to the region
The airport will enter commercial passenger service when Spicejet, one of the country's largest low-cost airlines launches two daily routes to Pakyong Airport (Pakyong-Kolkata and Pakyong-Guwahati) from October 4. The Pakyong-Kolkata flight will take around 1.5 hours and the Pakyong-Guwahati route will take slightly longer than an hour. The flights will offer some much-needed accessibility to the region. Before the opening of Pakyong, the nearest airport to Sikkim's state capital of Gangtok was Bagdogra, in West Bengal -- a five-hour drive.
Pakyong Airport is only 30 kilometers south of Gangtok. Druk Air plans to start flights between Pakyong and Paro, Bhutan from 1 January 2019. More flights are expected to be connecting Sikkim through the Pakyong airport to other parts of the country.
The Pakyong Airport has the honour of being among the highest airports of the country. As a bonus point for flying to this amazing state, you get the fragrance of orchids as soon as you step out of the Airport.
