GANGTOK: Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has said the newly-constructed airport at Pakyong will soon become operational.
"The Pakyong airport is now ready and will be operational soon," he told the state Assembly yesterday.
Expressing happiness over the successful landing of an Indian Air Force Dornier aircraft on March 5, the first-ever landing of an aircraft at the new airport, Chamling said a SpiceJet plane was scheduled to land at Pakyong airport on March 10.
The Airport Authority of India will thereafter be in a position to decide on making the airport operational for commercial flights, the chief minister said, adding that it had taken nine years for construction of the Pakyong airport at the cost of Rs 605 crore.
Commercial aircraft will fly from Pakyong airport to Delhi, Kolkata and Guwahati, he said.