Sikkim: Flight services to and from Pakyong likely to resume soon, says CM Prem Singh Tamang

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang said that flight services to and from the state's greenfield airport in Pakyong are likely to resume at the earliest.

SpiceJet, the only carrier that used to run daily flights to and from the Pakyong airport had suspended services in the hill state from October 30 last year due to "operational constraints".

The Chief Minister said he has written a letter to the Centre and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in this regard. ''Flight operations at the airport here are likely to resume at the earliest since our state will host two G20 events in mid-March,'' he said.

He also stated that flight services from Pakyong to West Bengal's Bagdogra and Assam's Guwahati should be commenced. "SpiceJet flights to and from Pakyong airport have been temporarily suspended with effect from October 30, 2022, due to operational constraints owing to the bad weather condition and low visibility at Pakyong.

"Pakyong is a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) airport and does not have instrument landing facilities… To avoid inconvenience to our passengers, flight operations have been temporarily suspended. We will share an update once the services resume," a spokesperson of the airline had earlier said.

The carrier started operations from the table-top airport in 2018 and was running daily direct flights to Delhi and Kolkata.

The suspension inconvenienced locals, who avail flight services as and when available, besides adversely affecting the tourism industry in the land-locked state, an official said.