Indra Hang pushes for urgent resumption of Sikkim’s air connectivity from Pakyong airport

GANGTOK, : Sikkim Lok Sabha MP Indra Hang Subba on Monday met with Union Civil Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu at his office in the Parliament regarding the Pakyong Airport flight services.

During the meeting, the LokSabha MP strongly reiterated the urgent need for the resumption of flight operations from Pakyong Airport, emphasizing the severe inconvenience caused to the people of Sikkim and the adverse impact on the State’s tourism sector, a press release informs.

Pakyong Airport has not seen commercial domestic flights for months owing to reasons attributed to technical aspects and also to Spice Jet Airlines, the sole domestic airline servicing the Pakyong air route. Though the flights were supposed to resume from March 30, it was pushed to April. The delay was attributed to some technical issues of the private commercial airline by the Pakyong Airport authorities.

Earlier, Spice Jet had opened online tickets for Kolkata -Pakyong-Guwahati, Guwahati -Pakyong-Kolkata, and Delhi-Pakyong-Delhi routes.Now, the online booking for the said routes has been cancelled by Spice Jet on their website.

In his meeting with the Union Civil Aviation minister, the LokSabha MP asserted that despite repeated demands, the intentional delay by SpiceJ et Airlines in restarting flights has disrupted connectivity and hindered economic activities, particularly in the tourism industry.

The Lok Sabha MP highlighted that this issue was also raised earlier on March 1, when he met with the Minister of State for Civil Aviation & Cooperation, Murlidhar Mohol, in Gangtok.

Mohol had assured to expeditiously hold a meeting with the Union Civil Aviation officials, Sikkim government officials, and the Spice Jet representatives for resumption of flights from Pakyong Airport.

Expressing deep concern, Indra Hang urged the Union Civil Aviation minister to take immediate action by convening a high-level meeting with all key stakeholders, including representatives from SpiceJet Airlines, the Civil Aviation department of the Government of Sikkim, and officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He stressed the importance of collaborative discussions to ensure a prompt and effective resolution to this long-standing issue, the release mentions.

Naidu took note of the concerns raised and assured that the Ministry of Civil Aviation will soon organize a meeting with the relevant stakeholders to address the matter at the earliest, the release mentions.

Indra Hang remains committed to advocating for improved air connectivity for Sikkim and will continue to follow up on this matter until a satisfactory resolution is achieved, the release adds.