Newly-built Pokhara International Airport. (File Photo)
POKHARA: Calibration flights at Pokhara Regional International Airport will begin on November 21.
Gyanendra Bhul, the joint spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said a special aircraft of Aero Thai will land in Pokhara on November 18 for calibration flights.
Calibration flights are conducted at airports to ensure that communication and navigation equipment are operating seamlessly. Test flights are organized only after the calibration flight report is submitted to the aviation regulatory body – CAAN.
CAAN is preparing to inaugurate Pokhara Regional International Airport on January 1, 2023. Domestic carrier Buddha Air Monday unveiled plans to operate scheduled flights from Pokhara to three Indian cities – Varanasi, New Delhi and Dehradun.
The Pokhara Regional International Airport is one among about a dozen national pride projects of the country. Construction work began in November, 2017 with a completion deadline of July, 2021. But the airport project suffered a long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The airport has been built with a soft loan of Rs 21 billion from the Chinese government.
