The Thai company has withdrawn from the Calibration flight of Gautam Buddha International Airport, which has reached the final stage of construction.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the company has written a letter stating that it will not perform the calibration flight immediately due to Covid-19. At the same time, the airport, which has been developed as the second international airport in the country, is expected to be delayed.
A calibration flight is a test flight to check if the ILS (Instrumental Landing System), VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range), and other communication or navigation equipment and technology connected to the airport are working properly.
CAAN Director General Rajan Pokharel said that the Thai company could not carry out an immediate calibration flight at the airport and that CAAN had started discussions to hand over one of the American and Indian companies.
“Since the Thai company cannot do calibration flights immediately, we will remove this part of them and fly calibration flights to Bhairahawa and Kathmandu and Terai airports with navigation and communication systems,” Pokhrel said. Now we are preparing to do a calibration flight of all the airports along with Bhairahawa.
He said that the flight could be operated at Bhairahawa Airport three to four months after the calibration flight. He said that the operation of Bhairahawa International Airport would not affect the arrival route from Bhairahawa. “We have prepared the route in such a way that it does not go into the airspace of the India. We are now moving our work forward from the technical level. If there are any obstacles in this, Nepal will take the initiative, ‘he said.
It is the only airport in the country to have an Instrumental Landing System (ILS). According to Pokhrel, calibration flights will be conducted at the airport every six months.
