Kathmandu, April 21 (RSS): The Gautam Buddha International
Airport, also a national pride project, in the Rupandehi district of the Lumbini
Province, has formally come into operation today. This is the second
international airport in the country after the Tribhuvan International Airport
(TIA).
Director-General of the Civil
Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the regulatory body, Engineer Pradip
Adhikari informed that the new runway of the GBIA has formally come into
operation.
According to him, the second
international airport has formally come into operation and it is a milestone in
the 74 years of the civil aviation history of the country.
"We would like to offer our
special thanks to all who are directly and indirectly linked with the
project," he said. The Director-General said that the 1,500 metres long
old runway has been closed and the new 3,500 metres runway has become
operational.
Although the runway has come into
operation from today at the Gautam Buddha International Airport, the
international flights would however be started on May 16, on the day of
Buddha Jayanti or the birth anniversary of the Buddha. The domestic flights
have been started from the new runway from today itself.
The international airline's planes
can land at the GBIA when the Kathmandu airport is closed or in any other
emergency situation.
Bikram Gautam, joint-coordinator of Operation Readiness and Airport Transport, said domestic flights have been
started from the GBIA from today. He said all the flights would be operated from
the new runway.
"The Bhairahawa airport was
operated on 4 July 1958 as a domestic airport. Now, we have declared that it has
been brought into operation as an international airport from today," he
added.
Jazeera Air has made all the
preparations for operating international flights from the Gautam Buddha
International Airport. Jazeera Air has so far taken official permission for
operating flights from this airport. Other airlines are also contacting for
operating flights from here. The Airport authorities believe that the other
airline companies will also start their services from here soon.
Both narrow-body and wide-body
aircraft will conduct flights from GBIA.
Officials concerned have described
the commercial operations of the GBIA as a new leap forward in the country's
aviation history.
The private sector airlines company, Yeti Airlines, conducted the first flight from the new runway, the Airport Office said. Other private airlines as Buddha Air, Yeti
Airlines, Shree
Airlines, Saurya Airlines have been operating flights from here.
CIAA stated that GBIA would be
operated at the same capacity as the TIA.