The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at, Sikkim chief secretary AK Srivastava said
Gangtok: It was a historic day for Sikkim as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the state’s first airport in Pakyong on Monday.
Considered as an engineering marvel, Pakyong airport will receive commercial flights from the first week of October.
Here is everything you need to know about the Pakyong airport:
This is India's 100th airport and the first in the state of Sikkim
The Pakyong airport is at 4,500 feet above sea level and is spread over 201 acres
The airport's runway is 1.75 km long and 30 metre wide. The taxiway is 116 metre connecting to an apron of 106 metre by 76 metre and two ATR-72 planes can be simultaneously accommodated
The first commercial flight from Pakyong will fly on October 4. SpiceJet will start Bombardier Q400 flight operations to and from Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati daily under the civil aviation ministry's Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme
The airport has 3,000 sq metre terminal building and has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passenger planes
The foundation stone for the airport was laid in 2009 and after nine years it has become a reality
Pakyong airport is around 33 km from Sikkim's capital Gangtok. It is located at an altitude of 2 km above Pakyong village
The airport is located 60 km from the India-China border
The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an "engineering marvel" for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at, Sikkim chief secretary AK Srivastava said
Integrated structures comprising an ATC tower-cum-fire station, two sophisticated CFT, one terminal building for passengers, high-intensity runway lights, parking for over 50 vehicles are some of the features of the airport. The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high, one of the tallest in the world, Srivastava said
The Indian Air Force (IAF) would be able to land various types of aircraft on the airport's runway with the construction of another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway in the coming days, the chief secretary said
Pakyong airport director R Manjunatha said the land for the airport was carved from the mountain side using massive geo technical 'cut and fill' engineering works
With inputs from PTI
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