Table of Contents
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
- Sikkim is now part of India’s aviation map as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the State’s first airport at Pakyong on September 24.
- This is also the 100th airport in India.
NOTES
The Greenfield Airport, located 30 km from the capital Gangtok Greenfield airport – A greenfield airport is an aviation facility with greenfield project characteristics. The designation reflects certain environmental qualities (using previously undeveloped or empty greenfield land, for example) and commissioning, planning and construction processes that are generally carried out from scratch.
EXAMPLE OF GREENFIELD AIRPORT
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (also in the news in 2018) GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd ), which operates the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad near here, has received the Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ)World #1 Airport Award Trophy in the 5-15 million passengers per annum category.
PAKYONG AIRPORT
- Pakyoung will start its commercial operations from the first week of October
- Spicejet’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft will be ferrying passengers between Sikkim, Guwahati, and Kolkata.
NOTES
- The airport is spread over 201 acres and is located on top of a hill about two km from Pakyong village, at 4,500 feet above sea level.
- The airport was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 605 crore and is an “engineering marvel” for its soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation techniques keeping in view the altitude it was built at
NOTES – STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
- The Pakyong airport is located around 60 km from the Indo-China border.
- The airport’s 1.75-km runway has a width of 30 metre. It has a 116-metre-long taxiway connecting it to an apron measuring 106 metre by 76 metre that can simultaneously accommodate two ATR-72 aircraft. Another 75-metre stretch adjacent to the main runway is being constructed for the use of the Indian Air Force.
MILITARY FLIGHT OPERATIONS
- It has been reported that the Indian Air Force (IAF) would have the ability to land certain military aircraft at the site, if necessary. On March 5, IAF’s Dornier-228 aircraft was tested from Pakyong.
- As a result, the ministries of home affairs and civil aviation are disputing which should be in charge of securing the airport. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) favours the use of local police. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) backs the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which handles airport security at 59 other airports across the country.
TRAVEL TIME CUT
- With the new airport, the travelling time to Sikkim will be get cut down by almost 5 hours because, earlier, the nearest airport to which the tourists could fly down was Bagdogra in West Bengal. (the nearest airport for the people of Sikkim is 124 kilometre (km) away in Bagdogra, West Bengal.)
- Passenger capacity: It has a capacity to handle 50 in-bound and as many out-bound passengers.
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