KATHMANDU: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) is all set to conduct its international flight from the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) from December end.
Archana Khadka, spokesperson of the NAC, said a task force led by the NAC’s Director Janakraj Khalakheti has been studying the various aspects of conducting flight from the GBIA. According to her, the destinations will be finalized after the panel submits its final report.
Currently, NAC makes its international flights to eight destinations including three in India. The national flag carrier uses its two wide body A-330 and two narrow body A-320 airplanes for this purpose.
Similarly, only Jazeera Airways has been conducting its passenger flights from the GBIA, while Himalaya Airlines has recently started its chartered flight from the location on a daily basis.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has made it mandatory for all those airlines companies that conduct more than three flights daily from the Tribhuvan International Airport to operate their flight from the GBIA too. Two weeks ago, the CIAA halted NAC’s flight to take off from the TIA to put pressure on the national flag carrier to shift some of its international flights to the GBIA. The CIAA’s action had even left 254 passengers of NAC stranded.
To facilitate the air traffic from the newly built international airport, the authority has waived the landing fee, hangar charge and security fee, among others, free of cost for those airlines, which conduct their international flights from the GBIA.