GBIA sees first scheduled int’l flight in six months

BHAIRAHAWA: The Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa saw its first scheduled international flight in six months on Sunday.

An Airbus A320 aircraft of Thai AirAsia touched down at the airport at 12.48 pm with 17 passengers on board. The return flight carried 162 passengers from Bhairahawa.

With the flight’s resumption, operations at Nepal’s second international airport are expected to regain momentum after being suspended since April.

Pratap Babu Tiwari, general manager of GBIA, told Himal Press that Thai AirAsia has resumed its regular schedule for the season.

The low-cost Thai carrier, a joint venture between Malaysian AirAsia and Thailand’s Asia Aviation, will be operating two weekly flights—on Sundays and Wednesdays—between Bhairahawa and Bangkok.

International flights from Bhairahawa had gained traction last April when maintenance work at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu diverted more traffic to GBIA. During that period, the airport handled four flights a day and recorded over 7,000 passengers from more than 200 flights in five months. Since then, only a few chartered services had taken place until Sunday.