Due to cracks appearing in the lone runway of Nepal’s only international airport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has requested airlines to stop using wide-bodied planes in Nepal. If that is not possible, the airlines will have to decrease their load, by carrying fewer passenger or cargo. Built in 1967, the capacity of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)’s runway is only 196 tons.
But the wide bodied planes in use in Nepal, which carry from 200-800 passengers, can weigh up to 299 tons. Their turning speed is very high, which TIA’s runway is unable to withstand. The question arises as to why these planes were permitted to use TIA in the first place, since authorities at CAAN could not have been unaware of the runway’s capacity. [break]
According to International Civil Aviation Organization, the body that sets the standards for airports around the world, an airport that shuts down services regularly for repair work does not qualify as an international airport. If the damages, repairs, and resulting disruption of services at TIA continue, the airport may even be in danger of being disqualified. [break]
Besides, this is a busy time for Nepal’s aviation industry. The temperate climate during this season has made it the busiest time for tourists hitherto. If airlines stop plying wide body aircrafts in Nepal, it is likely to cost the tourism industry dear. Nepal is predominantly dependant on air travel to ferry non-Indian tourists into the country. To follow the new guidelines, Air Asia, Thai Airways, Korean Air, Dragon Air and the upcoming Turkish Air will have to make elaborate shuffles in their schedule, since they usually fly wide body planes to Nepal.
They will have to operate more flights (if they choose to continue operating, that is) to accommodate the same number of passengers, which in turn would increase traffic at TIA and create hassles. A large chunk of Nepal’s international flights is run by Middle Eastern carriers like Etihad Airlines, Qatar Airlines, and Air Arabia. These operators were also considering bringing wide body planes into operation, and will now have to shelve their plans. Air Asia will be the most affected, since it does not even have any narrow bodied aircrafts.
It goes without saying that repairing the runway to allow wide bodied planes is the need of the day. But in the long run, no matter how many repairs are carried out at the runway, the problem will recur as long as the capacity of the runway is not increased, or an alternate runway built. With the limited space in Kathmandu, perhaps it may not be possible to expand or add a runway here. The situation makes clear the need for an alternate airport outside Kathmandu, although given the dismal running of TIA there are big doubts about the country’s capacity to run another international air hub.
But since there seems to be no other option, there is a pressing need to fast track the construction of international regional airports, several of which are in the pipeline but are being delayed for bureaucratic and other reasons. Ultimately, barring the wide body aircraft that are at the heart of international aviation is certainly not the way to go about it.
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