Tourism business affected due to flight suspension

KATHMANDU, Jan 04: Due to bad weather and non-availability of passengers, international flights have been suspended at Gautam Buddha International Airport, and the tourism professionals there are worried.

Jazeera Airways and Himalaya Airlines, which were operating international flights recently, have stopped their flights, while domestic flights are not being regularised. Although Jazeera has said that the flight will be suspended until December, it is certain that this time will be extended due to bad weather. Now the visibility in Bhairahawa and its surroundings is around 200 meters. If the sun shines, there will be an internal flight and if there is no flight, there will be no flight at all.

Rachna Pant, President of Lumbini Province of Nepal Tours and Travel Agents Association (NATTA), said that due to flight irregularities, there is also a problem in booking tourist tours. "January, February, March are the months that tourists prefer to visit," said Pant. Pant says that the Civil Aviation Authority should try to solve all these problems.

Instrument Landing System (ILS) has been installed at this airport. ILS is a precision radio navigation system, which helps aircraft to land at night or in bad weather. Airport General Manager Govinda Prasad Dahal said that at other times when visibility of 1,500 meters is required, airplanes can be landed in visibility of up to 800 meters with the help of ILS. Gautam Buddha International Airport has been invested in such a way that it can be prepared for Cat-2 as well. Some related equipment and lights have already been installed in order to make it easy to move to Cat-2 later.

Although there is an instrument landing system at the airport, it has not been used. Dahal said that India's approval is necessary as Indian skies can also be used for its use. "During landing in ILS, due to the airport on the border, India can also use some air space," Dahal said, "For this, India's approval is required, and there should be a discussion with the higher authorities."

After the construction of this airport, the private sector has also made significant investments in this area, but the private sector is worried because the airport is not fully operational. According to Bhishma Neupane, President of Siddharth Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the airport is currently closed because the facility cannot be used. "It is not appropriate to stop the technology that has already been invested so much because of some technical reason," Neupane said.