Sikkim's first greenfield airport to be completed by December 2014 By TBM Staff | Mumbai

The first greenfield airport in Sikkim at Pakyong will be completed by December 2014, which will provide air connectivity to the land locked state, Bhim Prasad Dhungel, Minister for Tourism, Government of Sikkim said yesterday, the PTI reported. The Pakyong airport, being built at an altitude of 4,700 feet, will be one of the five highest airports in India. The reinforcement wall on the project is 80 metre in height, which is one of the tallest reinforcement walls in the world, Dhungel told Dr K Chiranjeevi, Minster of State with Independent Charge for Tourism, Government of India, in New Delhi, official sources said. He said that construction work on the Rs 300-crore airport being constructed by Airports Authority of India on 200 acre land is in full swing and added that operation of flights from the airport will be commissioned by March 2015. Dhungel said that the airport having 180-metre-long airstrip will facilitate landing of ATR-72 plane. Presently, the nearest airport to Sikkim is located 124 km away at Bagdogra in West Bengal.