GBIA awaits international flights

By Laxman Paudel,Bhairahawa, Aug. 4: Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa is expected to see some activity as Thai AirAsia is set to operate flights between Bangkok and Bhairahawa four days a week. The airport has been running without any international flights, except a brief operation by Jazeera Air and Himalaya Airlines since its inauguration two years ago. 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) granted permission to the airlines company, headquartered in Bangkok, for the flights to and from Bhairahawa on Thursday. 

"We have been requesting regular international flights for a long time," said Chandra Prakash Shrestha, President of the Siddhartha Hotel Association. "We are pleased that Thai Air will start at least four flights a week. This will bring some activity to Bhairahawa and have a positive impact on the tourism business in the region." 

Shrestha also urged the Nepal Airlines Corporation to start regular flights here. "There should be at least one Bhairahawa-New Delhi flight," he said, "We have been raising this demand since the airport became operational." 

According to the CAAN, Thai AirAsia has been allocated a flight schedule at Tribhuvan International Airport from 2 to 3 PM while flight slots for GBIA Bhairahawa would be given as per the request of the company.

Thai AirAsia, which operates 58 aircraft, has Universal Tours and Travels as its official General Sales Agent (GSA) in Nepal. 

Previously, AirAsia, an airlines operated by the same investors of Thai AirAsia, had withdrawn from Nepal. AirAsia owed Rs. 270 million to the CAAN from 2012 to 2018. After Thai AirAsia decided to come to Nepal, this debt was cleared through a bank guarantee last March, informed General Manager of TIA, Jagannath Niraula. 

"We received a bank guarantee to pay the principal and interest totalling Rs. 270 million in 24 instalments," he said. Following this, the CANN opened the path for Thai AirAsia to operate its service in Nepal.

Thakur Kumar Shrestha, President of Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that operation of international flights would provide some relief to the sluggish tourism sector in Bhairahawa. 

He said, "Our desire is for daily flights from the GBIA. However, even four flights a week is good in the beginning. We need to attract other airlines from Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka and China."

Established 20 years ago, Thai AirAsia, a budget carrier airline, operates flights from Bangkok to India, Hong Kong, China, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries. 

According to the Nepal Tourism Board, Thailand is the 18th largest source of tourists to Nepal. In 2023, more than 25,000 tourists had arrived from Thailand.

The CAAN expects an increase in tourist arrivals from Thailand with the start of Thai AirAsia flights.

Bhairahawa's second international airport was completed in May 2022. The then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had inaugurated the airport. Kuwait's Jazeera Airways was the first airline to operate regular international flights, but these flights did not continue regularly.

According to CAAN Spokesperson Hansraj Pandey, Jazeera operated a total of 110 flights to Bhairahawa. After Jazeera, Nepal-China joint venture Himalaya Airlines operated 68 round-trip charter flights from Bhairahawa to Malaysia. 

However, these flights were also halted. Since last May, Nepal Airlines' flight from Malaysia to Kathmandu has been making a touchdown in Bhairahawa once a week (on Tuesdays) before landing at Tribhuvan International Airport.