BHAIRAHAWA, Nov 10: Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA), which rarely sees international flights despite being Nepal’s second international airport, facilitated three international flights on Saturday.
Jazeera Airlines, which had suspended flights to and from the airport after operating a few flights immediately after its inauguration, has resumed its flights from Saturday. The flight touched down at the GBIA at 7:30 am with 171 passengers, and took off at 8:30 am with 168 passengers including a child.
Similarly, Emirati airline operator FlyDubai and Nepal Airlines also had flights at the airport on Saturday. Thai AirAsia’s flight from Bangkok arrived at the airport on November 3, with regular flights scheduled on Mondays and Thursdays. With this, the number of international flights from Bhairahawa has increased to four.
Calibration flights at GBIA from today
The Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Air is operating flights at the airport three days a week. Spokesperson for the GBIA Dipak Kumar Bajracharya informed Republica that the Jazeera flight will arrive at the GBIA on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He added that the FlyDubai flight from Dubai arrived at the airport at 2:33 pm on Saturday with 186 passengers on board and departed for Kathmandu at 3:41 pm with 176 passengers.
Nepal Airlines will fly Kathmandu-Bhairahawa-Dubai flights three times a week, on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. According to Bajracharya, Nepal Airlines will fly from Kathmandu at 10:20 pm to Bhairahawa and from there to Dubai at 11:25 pm.
Passengers from the areas near Bhairahawa expressed joy at the chance of landing directly at the GBIA instead of TIA as it saves time for him to reach his hometown. Tijan Rana of Devdaha Municipality, who arrived from Kuwait, said he was happy to land in Bhairahawa for the first time. “We were very much waiting for the operation of Bhairahawa airport, we came to Bhairahawa on the first flight as soon as it was opened,” he said, “We come to Nepal twice a year, now we don't have to go to Kathmandu because of unavailability of flights to Bhairahawa.”
Ambassador of Nepal to Kuwait Ghanshyam Lamsal, who reached Bhairahawa by the same plane, said he was happy to land at GBIA in the first flight to Bhairahawa. He said that this will strengthen the relationship between Nepal and Kuwait and facilitate the movement of Nepali citizens. Ambassador Lamsal asked everyone to help in the regular operation of the airport.
Spokesperson Bajracharya told Republica that the operation of the three flights was smooth on Saturday and the airport is expecting an increase in the number of flights citing the operational capacity and the 10-hour closure of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
According to Bajracharya, discussions are being held with Qatar Airways, Air Arabia and other international airlines about flying to and from Bhairahawa. He said that now Bhairahawa Airport is operating for 18 hours and the airport has the capacity to handle two international flights per hour. “We are able to operate up to 36 daily flights from Bhairahawa,” said Bajracharya, “Manpower in Immigration and other departments are now completely adequate, it can be further modified as per the need.”
