KATHMANDU, Aug 10: Despite the government’s ‘bumper gift’ plan to attract airlines, international flights have yet to take off from Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airports. Though airlines operating from these debt-financed airports were offered extensive fee waivers, international flights remain scarce, causing operational difficulties.
Currently, only one international flight per week operates from each airport. Even after waiving passenger service fees, parking, landing, navigation charges, tourism fees, ground handling fees, and aviation fuel costs, airlines have not started regular international services.
Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), expressed concern: “We have waived all fees collected at the airports. Yet flights are not happening, putting the authority at risk of collapse.”
Pokhara Regional International Airport began operations in January 2023, while Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa started in May 2022. Bhul said CAAN has been operating at huge losses. The airports, built with loans, struggle even to pay interest. “We haven’t earned enough to repay the loan installments; even staff costs remain unpaid,” he added.
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The Ministry of Tourism has fully exempted the Rs 3,000 passenger service fee on international flight tickets from these airports. Parking, landing, navigation, and tourism fees of Rs 1,000 on tickets are also waived. Ground handling fees get a 75 percent discount; a plane carrying 150 passengers normally pays $5,000 but saves $3,750 with the discount. Nepal Oil Corporation provides a $100 per liter discount on aviation fuel.
These concessions will continue until the end of Bhadra 2083 (mid-2026) under the ‘Comprehensive Civil Aviation Improvement and Operation Plan’ for Gautam Buddha and Pokhara airports. Although each international flight contributes around Rs 400,000–500,000, flights have not picked up.
The lack of passengers has made airlines hesitant to operate from these airports. Some airlines that had flights stopped them after passenger numbers dropped.
While international flights briefly operated from Bhairahawa during Tribhuvan Airport’s upgrade, Nepal Airlines now only lands once a week from Malaysia without onward flights. Himalaya Airlines runs a weekly flight from Pokhara to Lhasa, China, but passenger numbers remain low. Occasional charter flights operate from Pokhara.
CAAN officials say the absence of necessary facilities such as labor offices, immigration, and quarantine at these airports is another reason flights don’t start. “Passengers avoid Pokhara and Bhairahawa because they have to come to Kathmandu for other services,” said Bhul, “All related services should be provided locally.”
Domestic flights help cover operational costs but not loan repayments. The airports, built with loans, face uncertainty, raising fears that the country could get trapped in debt.
Pokhara International Airport was built with nearly Rs 28 billion borrowed from China. Gautam Buddha International Airport’s construction involved about Rs 9.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank, OPEC fund loans, and other sources. Without international flights, covering operational costs and loan interest remains a huge challenge.