TIA to remain closed for 10 hours daily from Friday

KATHMANDU, Nov 05:Tribhuvan International Airport will be closed for 10 hours daily from November 8th. According to CAAN, in order to expand the airport runway's operational capacity, it would be closed for 10 hours each day to allow for the construction of a taxiway parallel to the runway.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has stated that increasing the capacity of the airport's runway will take about 5 months of construction at a rate of ten hours per day. Engineer Pradeep Adhikari, Director General of the CAAN, has stated that the only alternative is to work during this season because working during the summer and monsoon seasons is not feasible.

Speaking to the media, Director General Engineer Adhikari stated that they plan to expand the airport's operational capacity by establishing a taxiway parallel to the runway. The Director General stated that the plan for the taxiway's development had been in place for about 8 months. He further requested that it not to be connected with the flight from Gautam Buddha International Airport.

The Director General emphasized that the work to be done to increase the operational capacity of Tribhuvan International Airport is entirely commercial and does not involve any strategy or politics. He stated that all region air service provider organizations have agreed to work together to upgrade the runway. The CAAN has also stated that because there are less flights during the winter months, work on renovating the airport's runway is ongoing.

The director general, Adhikari, stated that the estimated income for the current fiscal year will be about two billion loss, but work must begin to expand the airport's operational capacity.  The Director General explained that after the parallel taxiway is built, the requirement to go to the apron from the runway as it is currently will be lifted. The director general Adhikari stated that the airport's operational capacity will improve by 25% following the building of the taxiway.

According to the CAAN, the upgrading work would result in a 30% reduction in domestic flights as well as international flights. The Director General also noted that the government has arranged low-cost tickets for the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport. He also stated that about three international airlines have agreed to flights to that international airport. The goverment has already decided to provide low-cost tickets for Gautam Buddha International Airport flights.