Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) will be shut down for 10 hours daily from April 1, 2019 (Chaitra 18).
The sole international airport of the country will remain close from 10 pm to 8 am in the morning halting all the flight operations for accommodating the runway extension project. It will take about 18 months to complete the overall upgrade.
Raj Kumar Chhetri, General Manager of TIA stated that the discussion has been started regarding how to manage the night scheduled flights.
The runway of TIA constructed in 1975, is going to be upgraded for the first time. Since, the runway is going to improved, the airline companies are fully coordinating about the airport to be close for 10 hours daily.
“The airlines are also giving their views,” said GM Chhetri. As far as possible, the airport officials are also preparing to manage the flight numbers.
GM Chhetri also informed that the airport officials are more concerned about managing the international flights compared to domestic flights.
If the flight numbers have to decrease in order to manage the flight then the airport officials will prepare the flight schedules looking at the daily and weekly flight arc of the airlines.
China National Aero Technology International Engineering Corporation, Chinese Company held a charge of the runway rehabilitation project of TIA. The agreement was signed on November 5, 2018.
The construction company has already started collecting the necessary materials.
For the agreement with the Chinese construction company, NRs. 3.75 billion is going to be signed for the runway and taxiway rehabilitation project, Director General of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Sanjeev Gautam said.
In the first phase, the company needs to blacktop the runway of 3000m. The renovation work will be conducted for 10 hours a day in 80m with use of milling machine at night. During the rehabilitation, TIA will be closed for 10 hours a day. After completing the runway work, the work of Parking bay will also be started.
The company has set a 45 days upgrade schedule while CAAN had set the period of 70 days of construction.
Meanwhile, an official from Tourism Ministry has directed the project to complete the rehabilitation of runway as soon as possible. After upgrading TIA -the dignity of the nation will help in upgrading the arc of the airport and improve the quality of services.
