-KATHMANDU
(Inbound flights to Nepal from the western side of India will reduce the flying time)
Nepal hopes to get approval from India for an inbound flight route from the west, according to a senior official from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Mr. Sanjiv Gautam informed, “Currently all the inbound traffic into Nepal from India are over Patna in Bihar state, from the eastern part. Similarly, India allows all the outbound flights to use their airspace from both the western and eastern Nepal.”
“We have been in negotiation with the Indian authority and have hope of getting approval (for the route) this year,” he told at the Singapore Airshow this week, adding that inbound flights from western side will reduce the flying time.
Nepal is preparing to enhance the airport infrastructure which will host five million tourists a year by 2025, up from the current average of one million a year. The Kathmandu airport is already congested, he pointed out.
Nepal is preparing to complete its USD 80 million Gautam Buddha airport project by the end of this year in the southern part of the country.
Gautam also said, “Nepal is building a USD 260 million airport at Pokhara, a popular tourist destination, which would be completed by July 2021.”
Also, a bigger, second international airport (SIA) is in the planning stage. Located some 70 km from Kathmandu, the project would cost USD 1.2 billion, he added.
