Thai AirAsia began commercial flights from Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa on Sunday. This budget airline from Thailand has become the fourth airline to operate commercial flights at the country’s second international airport. Previously, Kuwait's Jazeera Airways, Nepal’s Himalaya Airlines, and the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, operated flights from there. Jazeera Airways will resume flights from this airport starting November 9. After suspending flights for 10 months, the airline is set to restart operations at the same airport. Jazeera will operate flights three days a week—Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Similarly, the UAE’s national flag carrier, Fly Dubai, will start daily flights from November 10. Fly Dubai will operate flights seven days a week on the Dubai–Bhairahawa and Bhairahawa–Kathmandu–Dubai routes. There are reports that Qatar Airways has also begun studying the possibility of operating flights from GBIA. The renewed interest of foreign airlines in operating flights to and from GBIA comes after the government introduced various incentives to fully operationalize both GBIA and Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA). The interest shown by foreign airlines in operating flights from GBIA is a positive development, given the fact that air traffic is worsening in Kathmandu, forcing airlines to hold in the air for extended periods. Since some international airlines had to suspend their operations from GBIA within a short period, the concerned government agencies must work to ensure these flight operations are sustainable.
Nepal’s only operational international airport, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu, is already overcrowded, with planes having to hold in the air for long periods. As both domestic and international aircraft operate from the same runway, the situation has worsened with the rising number of air passengers. The situation is likely to deteriorate further with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) deciding to close Tribhuvan International Airport for 10 hours (10 pm to 8 am) to complete a long-overdue taxiway expansion beginning November 8 through March 31, 2025. The decision of foreign airlines to begin operating flights from GBIA can help ease the worsening air traffic situation to some extent. It will also help reduce the population pressure that Kathmandu has been witnessing over the past few decades. In fact, Nepal embraced a federal system of governance with a three-tier government structure in 2015 to promote decentralization. However, nearly 10 years since the new system of governance was introduced, the objective of ensuring decentralization has not been met, largely due to the concentration of all facilities, including the international airport, in the federal capital. In this sense, the government’s decision to incentivize foreign airlines to operate from GBIA and PRIA is a pragmatic one.
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The GBIA has stated that all necessary administrative services for international airport operations, including immigration, customs, and security, are in place to ensure seamless operation of foreign airlines. While the renewed interest of foreign airlines in operating from GBIA is a positive development, there is also a need for cautious optimism, as concerns remain that these airlines may suspend operations again within a short period. GBIA, one of Nepal’s national pride projects, was inaugurated on the day of Buddha Jayanti on May 16, 2022. The state-owned Nepal Airlines' wide-body A330 aircraft conducted a test flight at the airport and even began flights from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Bhairahawa's GBIA. However, due to the lack of passengers, it had to suspend its flights from GBIA. Jazeera Airlines had to go through the same fate. The onus is not only on the airlines to ensure full operations from GBIA. The concerned government agencies, including Nepal’s diplomatic missions abroad, must help make necessary publicity efforts to encourage more passengers to travel Nepal via GBIA to ensure that flights to and from this new international airport are commercially viable, making the current developments sustainable. The operation of international flights from GBIA is a much-needed initiative. This will not only ease the worsening air traffic conditions at TIA but also strengthen federalism in the long run.
