Sikkim flight halt plan jolts tourism

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 22 May 2019, Siliguri: SpiceJet's decision to stop services to Pakyong from next month because of poor visibility and lack of landing aids has jolted Sikkim's tourism industry and residents.

A section of people in the travel industry have wondered whether the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had opened Pakyong -- India's 100th airport -- without putting key equipment in place. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the airport, 33km from Gangtok, in September 2018.

Announcing the decision on Monday, SpiceJet had said its Pakyong flights had to be cancelled frequently because of inclement weather that reduced visibility. The airport does not have the Instrumental Landing System (ILS) that allows landings in poor visibility, the officials had pointed out.

SpiceJet had introduced the Pakyong flights from October 4 last year, running a 78seater Bombardier on the route. "The decision is a setback for the tourism sector. It will also affect Sikkim's brand- File picture of a SpiceJet plane at Pakyong airport building. The AAI should have kept in mind that poor visibility will be common at the 4,000ft airport," said Raj Basu, a travel veteran in Siliguri.

AAI officials pleaded helplessness. "The runway needs to be extended to install ILS. Unless we get land from the state, this can't be done," an official said.

Basu pointed that Pakyong was not an old airport but was built in the past few years after the state provided land. "The AAI should have asked for adequate land for the ILS before allowing servicesAfter the flights started, the demand for tickets was high as flying helped tourists avoid the five-hour road journey to Sikkim from Bagdogra, the airport near Siliguri locat- ed 130km from Gangtok. "It is not that thousands were flying to Pakyong daily but it was the first time that our state was included on the Indian air map. Now, our state will be off the air map again within eight months," said a former bureaucrat in Gangtok.

In Sikkim, a new government will be formed after the May 23 results for the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. "Whoever comes to power should take up the issue with the new government at the Centre on a priority basis.

The airport is important in terms of national security, too, given its proximity to the China border," said Rajen Lama, a bank employee in Gangtok .