International flights skipping Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport dishearten business community

Bhairahawa, Nov 10: The Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu was affected for nearly five hours due to technical hitches- airfield lighting- on Saturday. It prompted the Korean Air and the Fly Dubai to divert their flights to Delhi and Lucknow respectively.

At a time when there are already the two international airports in addition to TIA- the Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport in Nepal- skipping these facilities by the foreign flights during such diversion has disheartened the people, especially the industrialists. 

They wondered why these airports were skipped frequently and flights made close to the airports in neighbouring country.

The pilots in both planes failed to show interest in landing here but just flew jets above the Bhairahawa sky. 

It is not however the first case such incidents happened. The Vistara Air and the Fly Dubai heading to Kathmandu from Delhi and Dubai diverted to Lucknow last year.

Although Gautam Buddha International Airport is taken as the alternative facility even to use in emergency, only three diverted flights have landed here so far. It was Air China flight.

The national pride project brought into operation since May 15, 2022 is not running in full scale, thereby denting the country's efforts of attracting tourists and propping up economy. There are no regular flights in it either.

However, the people having knowledge about the situation, claim that there are no facilities eg for accommodation to the passengers once the emergency landings are made at night. 

Even the management of crew is in question as there are no good facilities here, they argued.

It is also said the varied price of aviation fuel- cheaper in India- is a reason behind diversion to Indian airports.

But, the Bhairahawa-based airport is closer than the Lucknow to Kathmandu airport.

Importantly, even the Nepal Airlines does as the foreign flights do in case of diversion. It uses Lucknow Airport in stead of the Bhairaha-based airport. However, it is less costly if the landing is made within Nepal, some view.

In this connection, spokesperson at Guatam Buddha International Airport, Shyam Kishor Saha, said it is because of the lack of qualified technical workforce. "There is a ground handling team at Bhairahawa, but the team has no engineers at all," he added, reasoning why international flights dodge even the diverted landing.

On the other hand, the locals and businesspersons have accused the government of not making sufficient efforts to increase the airport’s effectiveness. 

Local Thakur Kumar Shrestha also the former Chair of Siddhartha Commerce and Industry viewed the lack of diplomatic initiative to promote the airport.  The Saturday's case is enough to say that these two regional international airports were constructed just for the name.

Although the Pokhara and Bhairahawa-based airports are multi-million-rupee projects, they are currently sustained mostly by domestic flights.

The absence of foreign employment agencies and the lack of travel agencies to support demand for international flights are among the main reasons behind the current situation of these airports, it is said.

The Gautam Buddha International Airport had remained completely closed since April 2025. However, some chartered flights were operated during that time. Since this month, the Air Asia has begun operating two flights per week.

During the winter schedule last year, the airport recorded the arrival of 12,787 passengers, while a total of 11,111 passengers departed from there. (RSS)