Gangtok Gangtok, : Sikkim Lok Sabha MP Indra Hang Subba on Monday met Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu at the Parliament House regarding flight services of Pakyong airport.
During the meeting, the Lok Sabha MP stressed the urgent need to resume flight operations from Pakyong airport, highlighting the severe inconvenience caused to the people of Sikkim and the adverse impact on the tourism sector of the state, a press release informed.
Pakyong airport has not had commercial domestic flights for several months, owing to technical aspects and the only domestic airline serving the Pakyong air route being SpiceJet Airlines. Though flights were to resume from March 30, it was postponed till April. Pakyong airport officials attributed the delay to some technical problems of the private commercial airline.
Earlier, SpiceJet had opened online tickets for Kolkata-Pakyong-Guwahati, Guwahati-Pakyong-Kolkata and Delhi-Pakyong-Delhi routes. Now SpiceJet has cancelled online bookings for the said routes on its website.
In his meeting with the Union Civil Aviation Minister, the Lok Sabha MP said that the deliberate delay in resuming flights by SpiceJet and airlines despite repeated demands has disrupted connectivity and hampered economic activities, especially the tourism industry.
The Lok Sabha MP highlighted that the issue was also raised on March 1, when he met Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol in Gangtok.
Mohol had assured to hold an early meeting with Union Civil Aviation officials, Sikkim government officials and SpiceJet representatives to resume flights from Pakyong airport.
Expressing deep concern, Indra Hang urged the Union Civil Aviation Minister to take immediate action by convening a high-level meeting with all key stakeholders, including representatives of SpiceJet Airlines, Department of Civil Aviation, Government of Sikkim and officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He stressed the importance of collaborative discussions to ensure an early and effective resolution of this long-standing issue, the release mentioned.
Naidu took note of the concerns raised and assured that the Ministry of Civil Aviation would soon hold a meeting with the concerned stakeholders to resolve the matter at the earliest, the release mentioned.
Indra Hang is committed to advocating for better air connectivity for Sikkim and will continue to follow up on the matter until a satisfactory solution is achieved, the release said.
