Nepal Airlines Test flight to Thamkharka Airport Successful
Kathmandu – 06 November 2016
Thamkharka Airport in Khotang district that was closed since five months is coming back to operation again after an aircraft of Nepal Airlines successfully conducted a test flight for examining the aircraft operation feasibility in the airport yesterday.
The airport was closed since June because of the monsoon season and rainfall. The regular flight service can be expected to be scheduled soon as the test flight was successful and the captain of the test flight has already submitted the report to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal about the Airport being in good condition enough to re resume the airport operation.
The aircraft movement was halted in June because of the problem in runway due to rainfall of monsoon. The airport generally gets closed on monsoon and resumes its service from September end. But this time the airport got closed for a longer period than usual. But after the test flight the regular flight service will start immediately according to Station In-charge of Airport Mr. Narendra Udas.
Nepal Airlines conducts Kathmandu-Thamkharka flight twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday and once a week from Biratnagar-Thamkharka on Saturday.
The airport operation will benefit about 20 VDCs of Southern Khotang and also some VDCs of neighboring district Bhojpur. The air transport is only one option of travel to the villagers of this part of Khotang which has no connection of road facilities or any other medium of transportation.
The sick people seeking medical treatment will be mostly benefited by the flight service in this region. While the airport was closed they were compelled to walk for two days on foot to reach Khanidada Airport of the same district and use the air service from there. Khanidada Airport lies on the headquarter Dhiktel of Khotang.
