Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the sole international airport will halt morning scheduled flights for two and half hours on 30 August 2018 (Thursday).
TIA will remain closed from 8 AM to 10:30 AM in the morning during the arrival of foreign ministers, delegates and secretariats for 4th BIMSTEC (the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit 2018.
The airport will, however, remain open for 24 hours during the summit to compensate the delays caused.
Mr.Pratap Tiwari, spokesperson of TIA stated that U Win Myint, Myanmar President will arrive in Nepal on 28 August whereas delegates from Bhutan and Sri Lanka will arrive on next day (August 29). The delegates from Thailand, Bangladesh along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Nepal to attend the two-day Summit in Kathmandu on 30-31 August.
He said that all the airline companies have been informed about the circumstances on Thursday and requested to cooperate and maintain the scheduled of the flights. The authority has decided to shut down TIA considering the safety of representative of various countries coming to participate in the Summit.
General people will not be allowed to enter the airport as TIA Civil Aviation Office (TIACAO) has already issued security regulations in that period. Spokesperson Tiwari said that the delegates will return to their respective nation on August 31 after completing the summit and no disruption will occur thereafter.
BIMSTEC is a regional grouping of several countries including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal.