The upgrading work of Chandragadhi airport located at Jhapa has been started. Necessary preparations are underway for introducing night flight operation at the airport to serve passengers from India, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
The improvement of Chandragadhi airport, which is one of the busiest domestic airports in the Eastern part of the country has been increasingly intensified.
Sanjeev Gautam, Director General of CAAN already informed that the airport will be equipped with necessary infrastructures to initiate night flights from 1st January 2019.
The certification to conduct night flight at the Chandragadhi Airport has already been awarded along with the necessary procedural designs. At present, only TIA, Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa, Simara, Biratnagar and Dhangadhi airports operate night flights which have the capacity to accommodate ATR-72 model planes except in Simara.
The physical and technical conditions of the airport have been greatly improved. VOR/DME equipment is being installed at the airport along with the installation of runway lights.
RNAV (Area Navigation) GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Instrument Approach Procedure has also been established at Chandragadhi Airport to enhance the safety and efficiency of the aircraft operations and materialize the National PBN Implementation Plan of Nepal.
Currently, the airport has been using Satellite Best Day IFR technology. In the past, visibility of around 5000 meters were required for the flight operation. With the use of new technology, in 2200 meters visibility the flight operation are being conducted.
The construction work has been speeded up at Chandragadhi airport for day and night flight service under the instrument flights rule. The capacity of the waiting room has also been increased in view of increase in the flow of passengers at the airport. There has also been arrangement of free WiFi, garden and Children Park at the airport periphery. Similarly, parking area is also being expanded as the flights frequency has increased lately.
Currently, 8 aircraft operate flights daily and around 1000 passengers daily take service through this airport.
