Dipayal Airport stays idle in lack of flights

By Keshav Chandra Mahara,Dipayal, Jan. 22: When the then Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai came to Doti over two years ago, he promised that the Dipayal Airport would have regular flights soon. 

Arriving on a Summit Air test flight on October 3, 2020 to mark the completion of the upgrading of the airport, Bhattarai promised to make arrangements for the operation of three flights to and from Dipayal every week.

After the visit, Summit operated commercial flights to the airport for some time but then stopped. Meanwhile, in his visit, Bhattarai was accompanied by Prem Bahadur Ale, member of the previous House of Representatives from Doti.

Ale later succeeded Bhattarai as the Civil Aviation Minister and came to Dipayal on a Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) flight and pledged to schedule regular flights to the airport after carrying out further upgrading and improvement works.

It has been seven months since Ale left office and two years since Bhattarai did, yet Dipayal Airport is no closer to receiving regular flights than it was at the beginning of their tenures.

“The planes came and went with the ministers without conducting any commercial flights,” said Dipak Bahadur Khadka, general secretary of the Doti Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “The airliners first claimed COVID-19 and then blamed a lack of passengers for not flying to this airport.” “We have not had a single scheduled flight here for the past five months,” Khadka informed.

Bijay Khadka, mayor of Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality, said that the airport could be a gamechanger for the local economy. “We have many important religious and tourist sites that can attract scores of people from all over the country. But for it, we need reliable and regular air transport.” He added, “The airport needs to come into operation to boost local business and improve livelihoods.”

Similarly, Ganesh Dhami, an employee at the provincial directorate of Livestock and Fisheries Development, said that the lack of flights had made it difficult for civil servants and citizens alike to come to government offices in Dipayal.

The national-carrier NAC said a lack of planes was keeping it away from the airport. Bimal Bikram Shahi, NAC’s station in-charge at Dhangadhi, said that the corporation only had two planes that could not be exclusively dedicated to Dipayal or the far-western districts. 

Dipayal Airport, once considered one of the safest in the far-west, shut down in 2001 and fell into disrepair. Wishing to bring it into operation again, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal began repair and improvement works in 2016 and opened it for flights in 2020. 

However, in the absence of scheduled flights, locals worry that it will again become dilapidated. “The airport had turned into a grazing ground after 2001. Will it become once again?” suspected Rajendra Shahi, central member of the Hotel Professionals Association. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Office of Dipayal is without a chief. Former head Bijay Patel was transferred to Achham last month and has not been replaced.