KATHMANDU, Dec 13: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has decided to increase the daily operation period of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) by two hours starting mid-February and an additional two hours in mid-March, following a month and a half of reduced operation hours.
A meeting of the management committee of CAAN on Thursday decided to increase the operating hours to 7:00 am to 11:00 pm from mid-February and 6:00 am to 12:00 pm from mid-March citing the reduced winter fog, increased pace of construction works at the airport and inconvenience caused to air passengers.
CAAN has been closing the airport for an additional six hours since November 8, shrinking the operation hours to 8:00 am to 10:00 pm for the expansion of the taxiway at the busiest airport of the country. Under regular conditions, the TIA operated from 6 am to 2 am.
CAAN to increase TIA operation hours by two hours
Director General of CAAN, Pradeep Adhikari, told Republica that the operation will now be increased by two hours, allowing for an 16-hour operation, as the taxiway expansion work is progressing quickly. The authority is working to expand the parallel 'taxiway' to the south-west of the airport, the 'International Airport' to the north and the 'hangar apron' to the east of the airport. The work was initially expected to run for about five months.
Deputy Director General of CAAN, Hansa Raj Pandey, informed Republica that the management considered the decreasing effect of winter fog, the unanticipated high pace of construction works and the inconvenience caused to travellers while making the decision to increase the operating hours of the airport.
“The winter fog will start to recede from mid-February which makes it feasible to operate the airport from one hour earlier, i.e., from 7 am,” Pandey said, “In addition, the contractor company has displayed an unanticipated pace of work during the night, which has prompted us to extend the operation hours by an hour in the night.”
He added that the contractor for the construction was consulted before making the decision to increase the operation hours of the TIA. “The contractor has expressed confidence in completing the works even after the closing period of the airport is reduced,” Pandey told Republica, “They have also committed to increasing the construction equipment in addition to the increasing manpower.” He added that the quantity of manpower for the construction was increased following the end of the festive period as people returned to work.
The Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) has observed a historic increase in operation of international flights following the closure of the TIA for six additional hours in November. A total of five international airline operators have been providing regular flights to and from the airport. Stakeholders had doubted whether the international flights would be sustainable at the airport after the increase in operation hours of the TIA.
CAAN Deputy Director Pandey expressed his belief that the increased operation hours of the TIA will not affect the air traffic at the other two international airports in Nepal. “Just because the operation hours of the TIA are increased does not mean that the air traffic at the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) or the Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) will decrease,” Pandey told Republica, “We will still provide incentives to airline operators to attract more flights to the GBIA and the PRIA.”
