Why flights at Sikkim’s Pakyong Airport remain elusive 6 years after opening

Nearly six years after its grand inauguration by the Prime Minister in September 2018, Sikkim’s only airport in Pakyong remains far from fully functional. 

Despite the hopes and expectations of the local population, air services at the airport have remained inconsistent, leaving many to question why regular flights continue to remain a challenge.

Speaking to India Today NE, C.S. Rao, Additional Chief Secretary of the Tourism and Civil Aviation Department, explained in very clear terms why the situation has not improved. He said, “Actually, SpiceJet, they got that deal under UDAN. Their position is not good. They are not in a position to operate their normal flights also. They have some crisis going on.”

He further said that the airline was not willing to commit to year-round flights and had instead shown interest only during the tourist season. “They said they can operate for a month and then stop again. I am not in support of such a decision. Better not to start it at all if it is not going to continue,” Rao added.

The state government, after discussions with the Chief Secretary and senior officials, decided not to allow seasonal flights that only benefit tourists but not the local people. “If you are doing it for just a week or a month, and then stopping, there is no real benefit to the common people of Sikkim,” Rao said.

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Since 2018, services at Pakyong airport have remained limited. Rao said that if one calculates the actual operational days since its opening, it would not even add up to one-third of the days in a year. This has raised serious concerns about the reliability of air travel from Pakyong.

A major technical limitation of the airport is its runway, which is only 1.75 kilometers long. This restricts the types of aircraft that can land at the airport. Larger jets like Airbus or Boeing cannot operate on such a short runway. Rao said that most airlines do not have the smaller Bombardier Q400 aircraft, which is the only kind suitable for current runway conditions. He said, “We have requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) to support us. We even asked them, why not buy one Bombardier Q400 for Pakyong operations?”

While the central government is reportedly looking into the matter, a more permanent solution could be to extend the runway itself. “If the present runway is expanded from 1.75 km to around 2.5 or 2.8 km, then even Airbus or Boeing aircraft can land easily. That would solve a lot of our problems,” Rao said.