Sikkim flight to start next month

A flight that landed at the Pakyong airport for a trial. File picture

TT, Siliguri: The first passenger flight will land at Pakyong airport in Sikkim on October 8, bringing the Himalayan state to the aviation map of India.

SpiceJet that has been awarded the Calcutta-Pakyong route had conducted a trial run on March 10 with a 78-seater Bombardier Q 400 aircraft landing at Pakyong.

"The airline company had earlier decided to start the flight service between Calcutta and Pakyong on October 4 but now, it has been planned that the service will start from October 8. On Friday (September 7), a senior official of Spicejet met Sikkim chief minister and handed him the first flight ticket and boarding pass," said a source in the Sikkim state government.

As of now, Sikkim has a chopper service from Bagdogra. Residents of the state and people visiting Sikkim had to take flights from Bagdogra, located around 140km away from the state capital of Gangtok.

On October 8, SpiceJet flight will depart Calcutta at 9.30am and reach Pakyong, located around 35km from Gangtok, at 10.55am.

A check through the official website of SpiceJet showed that a one-way ticket along the route would cost around Rs 2,600. The route has been offered to the airline under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagarik) scheme floated by the Centre.

"It is great news for Sikkim. The service will start just ahead of the tourism season during the Durga Puja and Diwali holidays. We are confident that the response would be overwhelming as many people would prefer to take the flight to reach directly in Gangtok, instead of reaching Bagdogra and then make a road travel for around four hours," said Sandipan Ghosh, the general secretary of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators' Association.

From October 16, however, the flight schedules will change in Pakyong, as SpiceJet will introduce its service to Guwahati from Sikkim on that day.

The arrival time from Calcutta will be same but at 11.15am, instead of flying to Calcutta, the flight will head for Guwahati where it will reach at 12.30pm.

It will depart Guwahati at 1pm to arrive at Pakyong at 2.05pm. From Pakyong, the flight will leave at 2.50pm to reach Calcutta at 4.20pm.

On the Pakyong-Guwahati route, the one-way flight fare is around Rs 2,060 now.

"This would be more advantageous for tourists who can spend some hours and visit some destinations in Sikkim even on the date of departure. As of now, those take flights need to start for Bagdogra early in the morning," added Ghosh.