Parking capacity of the country’s sole international airport (Tribhuvan International Airport) is going to be increased soon as the under-constructing parking bay at East and South of the airport is expected to be completed soon.
The parking capacity will nearly double to current capacity as parking area at east is expected to come into operation within couple of month and parking at South to come into operation from April/May of 2019 stated Airport general manager Raj Kumar Chhetri.
Currently, 9 aircraft; 3 wide-body and 6 narrow-body aircraft can be accommodated at TIA parking and with the construction of new parking bay, it will be able to hold around 13 international aircraft.
The parking area are being constructed at a cost of more than NRs 1 Billion from the Airport Development Fund (ADF). It is estimated to cost NRs 47 Crores for remote parking ramp construction at east side and Rs 59 Crores for parking ramp at southern side of airport.
Currently around 70% of work at east side has been completed and 40% work at south side has been concluded stated engineer at the airport.
Currently, with the growing demand of air travel, the airlines are opting to expand their service in Nepal. However, the airport infrastructure is very limited to handle and provide effectual service to all the airlines. At present, airlines have to wait for more than 30 minutes to get landing and takeoff clearance.
The new parking area will be able to accommodate wide-bodies and ATR’s and after both parking work are completed it will also mitigate problem of airplane hold at some extent.
Remote parking bay is an isolated and alternative parking bay constructed far from the main parking bay of the airport and used to avoid physical damages and human threats involved in an aircraft. Any aircraft that is suspected to be in threat of bomb blast or terrorist or hijacking activities will be preceded to park in the remote bay. It will provide crucial aid avoiding flight disruption by providing isolated space to the aircraft which needs to be parked for long time or due to abnormal reasons.
