Is this the world’s most picturesque airport? Stunning new Indian hub has runway that has been carved out of a mountainside
- Pakyong Airport near Gangtok is India’s 100th airport and the first to open in Sikkim state in north of country
- The airport is nestled in a deep valley close to the Himalayas and at 4,500 feet, is one of the highest in India
- Engineers spent nine years working on the project in monsoon rains, rocky slopes and seismic activity
India has a lot of airports, but few can match this one for views.
In fact, few anywhere can.
The Pakyong Airport near Gangtok is India’s 100th airport and has been carved out of the mountainside.
The runway at Pakyong Airport in northern India, which could be the world’s most picturesque. The runway has been carved out of a mountainside
The Pakyong Airport near Gangtok is the first to open in the Sikkim state in the north of India, close to the Himalayas
The terminal building has capacity for up to 100 passengers at a time and will offer commercial flights to a variety of destinations
The airport – the first to open in the Sikkim state – is close to the Indian Himalayas and is very near to Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. It is nestled in a deep valley and at 4,500 feet, is one of the highest airports in India.
It is set across 990 acres and engineers spent nine years working on the project in difficult conditions. They toiled on rocky slopes in monsoon rains and during seismic activity and brought equipment up precarious mountain roads.
The entire airport is built on land that was created by building an embankment wall that is 263 feet deep. According to the BBC, this is one of the tallest ‘reinforcement’ walls in the world.
The terminal building has capacity for up to 100 passengers at a time and will offer commercial flights to a variety of destinations.
Engineers spent nine years working on the project in difficult conditions including monsoon rains, narrow roads, rocky slopes and seismic activity
The first flights from the brand new airport will start next week with the first plane to take off heading to Kolkata
The front of the terminal building. The airport was officially inaugurated by Indian Prime Ministe Narendra Modi last week
The airport was officially inaugurated by Indian Prime Ministe Narendra Modi last week.
The first flights will start next week with the first plane to take off from the airport heading to Kolkata.
Photographer Rajiv Srivastava was one of the first people to get a sneak peek at the airport ahead of it opening to the public.
He told MailOnline Travel: ‘Pakyong Airport is indeed an engineering marvel set in the heavenly abode of the Himalayas.’
The entire airport is built on land that was created by building an embankment wall that is 263 feet deep
A luggage carousel and baggage trollies are lined up ready for the start of commercial flights from the airport next week
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