The initial excitement following the start of flight operations from Gautam Buddha International Airport of Bhairahawa on May 16 has been superseded by anxiety as international flights from the country's second international airport have been suspended since December 21 as a result of bad weather, unavailability of aircraft, and delay in bringing the instrument landing system into operation.
According to Krishna Prasad Adhikari, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents of Lumbini Province, businesses and industries in the region have been adversely affected following the suspension of flights from GBIA. In addition, authorities' apathy and the refusal of Nepal Airlines Corporation to conduct one flight from GBIA despite having a route permit to fly over India's airspace has worried residents in the region.
"Although we had charged nominal commission to promote international air service from the region for Jazeera and Himalaya Airlines aside from voluntarily assisting customers with their ticketing process, the airlines decided to suspend flights from GBIA citing various reasons," he said, alleging that the state's failure to fulfil its responsibilities of properly regulating the aviation sector had put the investment made in the region at risk.
Kuwait's Jazeera Airlines had started operating international flights from the airport not long after its launch. But lack of passengers prompted the carrier to drop its plans to conduct daily flights from GBIA and reduce the number of flights to three per week.
Himalaya Airlines also started operations from the airport on November 3. However, both the airlines suspended their international flights from GBIA last month mainly due to poor weather.
Till date, the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines has not conducted any flight from Bhairahawa.
"Although NAC is ready to commence service to GBIA, we need more time to explore and study the area for business purposes," a NAC official said seeking anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has cited weather conditions and lack of aircraft as the reasons for suspension of international flights from GBIA.
"In GBIA, 550 metres of runway visual range, 250 metres of decision height, horizontal visibility of 8,000 metres, and vertical visibility of 1,000 metres are needed for a precision approach. However, the visibility at Bhairahawa drops to around 200 to 300 metres due to fog during the night which affected Jazeera's operations from the airport. Also, they were not able to manage and conduct flights from the airport during the day time citing various reasons," Gyanendra Bhul, information officer of CAAN, told THT.
He said while one of the four aircraft of Himalaya Airlines is grounded, another aircraft is undergoing maintenance checks. "Both Jazeera and Himalaya Airlines will resume operations from Bhairahawa after the repair of aircraft and improvement in weather conditions in the region."
Moreover, the ILS has not come into operation at GBIA as an agreement related to the common use of airspace between Nepal and India is still under process, said Bhul. "As the range of visibility is still lower than 1,500 metres at Bhairahawa due to unfavourable weather conditions, international flight services are likely to resume only by the end of the month."
