BAITADI, Feb 3: The air service is closed for a month in Baitadi. Although the Baitadi-Dhangadhi flight started on December 31, it remains suspended since then. Summit Air operated the weekly flight on each Friday.
Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Baitadi's senior officer Deepak Bhatta said the flights were operated regularly but they had to be suspended at present as there were no passengers.
Air service resumes in Baitadi after one and a half months
"We have not been able to operate regular flights because of a shortage of passengers. Passengers are not traveling by air due to bad weather," he said, adding that preparations are made for regular flights after the weather starts improving.
The Summit Air aircraft can carry 18 passengers. "Only five or six passengers come seeking air tickets on a daily basis. The flights can be operated if there are 14 or 15 passengers," Bhatta explained.
The air services started in Baitadi from 1979. The airport remained shut since 1997 after the expansion of road connectivity in the hilly districts and people started traveling by road rather than air.
The then Maoist rebels had torched the airport tower and destroyed it in 2002.
