The unfavorable weather condition has disrupted the runway renovation project of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) as Kathmandu along with other regions around the country is encountering rainfall since past several days.
The only international airport of the country is beingclosed every day between 10 PM to 8 AM starting from 1st April for the runway renovation. However, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) informed that the major work has not started yet following the unfavorable rainy weather.
The international and domestic flights have been highly disrupted at the moment. Flights have been cut off whereas flights to Lukla have been setup from Ramechhap Airport.
The airport authority has requested international airline operators to use wide-body aircraft for flying maximum passengers. Some airlines like Qatar Airways have started operating their bigger aircraft. This has not however decreased the amount of air passengers.
The 3050 meters runway will be layered with new concrete with the depth of 30 cm to 50 cm. The layering work is done over the night to make the airport ready for flight operation by 8 AM in the next morning.
At present, there is rainfall every night at Kathmandu so, the layering work has been disrupted. Though the workers and equipment become fully prepared, the rainfall creates difficulty. The runway centerline light will also be repaired before blacktopping the runway.
CAAN has committed to complete the project by 15th of Jestha, 2076 despite the disturbance caused by rainfall. CAAN Director General said that the airport operation would be in chaos if the construction takes longer time so, it was mandatory to complete before timeframe.
Chinese company China National Aero Technology international Engineering Corporation has been given the responsibility of the project with the estimated cost of Nrs 3.75 Billion.
The runway of TIA has been badly ruptured due to landing of wide-body aircraft. Aircraft had to overshoot the runway number of times previously due to cracks in the runway so, the aviation regulator body of Nepal prepared for the complete renovation keeping aviation safety in keen consideration.
