Stakeholders on Tuesday signed the Letter of Agreement (LoA) to be effective on 1 May for Sikkim’s first airport at Pakyong. The letter was signed during a coordination meeting held at the Bagdogra Airport in Siliguri on Tuesday.
The meeting aimed at laying down the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) procedures between all the stakeholders, airport officials said.
“Representatives of the head office at Delhi, Kolkata ATC, Guwahati ATC, Indian Air force ATC, Pakyong ATC and Spicejet signed the letter, which will come into effect from 1 May,” Bagdogra Airport director Rakesh Sahay said.
“The letter includes the technicalities of the working of the ATC. For aircraft departing Pakyong to Kolkata and Guwahati–what height will the aircraft fly, what routes will the aircraft follow and other technical aspects are included in the letter,” Mr Sahay added.
According to him, these procedures have to be followed by Pakyong Airport whenever it begins operations. Earlier, On 10 March, a Spicejet Q400 Bombardier aircraft successfully landed at Pakyong Airport.
The 78-seater aircraft made the trial landing there at 11:55 am, and it carried a team of officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) Board and Spicejet Operations.
It may be recalled that ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ (rituals as per Hindu religion) for Pakyong airport was done in 2007, but work came to a halt due to various issues, which delayed the construction.
By 2014, the airport had started taking shape and by 2015 work resumed with steady plan for completion. Integrated structures comprising the ATC tower-cumfire station, two sophisticated CFT, terminal buildings for passengers, high-intensity runway lights, car parking for more than 50 cars are some of the features of the airport.