Balewa airport which was closed for around 2 and half decades was decided to bring into operation last year. For recommencing the operation, some of the conserved trees located around the site were chopped which has still been left unmanaged.
Normally, to chop the trees, approval from division forestry office should be obtained and after cutting down the trees, all the report of aftermath about the chopped trees should be made so as to manage the trees. However, it has not been done yet.
Around 400 trees were chopped around a year back to bring the airport into operation.
In 2022 BS, the construction of the Baglung-Pokhara road was completed and after that in 2048, the airport came to a closure. Tara Air conducted a successful test flight at Balewa Airport located at Baglung Municipality-14 on 19th March. However, the airport was closed yet again since last month.
Baglung municipality took responsibility of the air passengers later faced loss resulting to closure of the airport.
The airport future is still unclear as new road network that connects Baglung with Pokhara in just around 90 minutes is being constructed and the number of passengers are less.
Baglung (Balewa) Airport is situated at Narayanthan Municipality of Baglung District, Province No. 4. At an elevation of 990 m. /3248 ft. above mean sea level. The airport provides the flight service under the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and has Clay/Grass Surface runway with its dimension of 608 m x 30 meter aligned to 010 degrees and 190 degrees. The airport currently has two parking capacity which can accommodate the STOL aircraft like DHC6 Twin Otter, Harbin Y12 and Cessna Grand Caravan C208.
