Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Qatar Airways began scheduled flights to Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa on Tuesday.
An Airbus A330 of the Doha-based carrier landed in Bhairahawa at 3 pm and departed for Kathmandu at 4:45 pm. The airport serves Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
According to an official at Gautam Buddha International Airport, no passengers disembarked in Bhairahawa, nor were there any for the Bhairahawa-Kathmandu-Doha flight. Additionally, Bhairahawa is not yet listed as a destination in the airline’s ticket booking system.
Qatar Airways will operate daily flights on the Doha-Bhairahawa-Kathmandu-Doha route.
With this, the number of airlines operating scheduled flights to Gautam Buddha International Airport has reached five. Alongside Qatar, state-owned Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), Jazeera Airways of Kuwait, Thai AirAsia of Thailand, and FlyDubai of the UAE also operate flights to Bhairahawa.
Among these, Qatar and FlyDubai make a stopover in Bhairahawa before continuing to Kathmandu. NAC, Jazeera, and Thai AirAsia operate direct flights to Dubai, Kuwait City and Bangkok from Bhairahwa.
