SpiceJet resumed its operations at the Pakyong Airport in Sikkim on Tuesday with a to-and-fro flight from New Delhi after a gap of almost five months.

An official of the commercial airline said the flight from Delhi had landed in the Himalayan state’s lone airport with 43 passengers and flew back with 11 travellers. The next flight on the route is scheduled for March 22.

“From March 26 onwards, we will operate the Delhi-Pakyong-Delhi flights for five days a week. There will be no flights on Mondays and Fridays,” said the official.

SpiceJet is also planning to resume the Calcutta-Pakyong-Calcutta flights from April onwards, but a final decision on it was awaited.

“Yes, there is a planning going on for the resumption of the service between Calcutta and Pakyong, but there is no commitment on it,” said the SpiceJet representative.

Before the suspension of its operations at Pakyong at October-end last year, SpiceJet used to operate daily flights to Pakyong from both Delhi and Calcutta.

The airline had suspended the flights because of, what it called “operation reasons”.

SpiceJet has been the only airline to operate commercial passenger flights from Pakyong.

With Sikkim well into the spring tourist season, which is between March and May, tourism stakeholders have welcomed the resumption of commercial flights from Pakyong. “Even though the airport handles very less traffic, the resumption of flights is welcomed because it still provides an alternative travel option to visitors to our state,” said Rajen Pradhan, a hotelier.

Pradhan, however, said the frequent suspension of flights from Pakyong was a major irritant.

“Despite the difficulties of terrain and nature, I feel efforts should be made to make Pakyong an all-weather airport,” he said.

The Pakyong Airport authorities had in the past said there was generally nothing wrong with the facility, except during very adverse weather conditions. The airport was in operation even during the suspension of flights by the lone commercial airline with many chartered, survey and defence planes landing at and taking off from the airstrip.

The landlocked state, which was put on the aviation map of the country in 2018, would also soon come under the massive Indian railway network with the phase-wise commissioning of the Sevoke-Rangpo route over the next few months.

Work on the 45km rail line between Sevoke in Bengal and Rangpo in Sikkim has been gaining speed and is on the home stretch after years of delay. Once commissioned, it would give the state a major fillip in terms of connectivity.