Bhairahawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) is once again without international flights after Jazeera Airways decided to stop flying to the airport.
The Kuwaiti carrier was the only international airline that operated flights to and from the airport. It used to operate three weekly flights between Kuwait and Bhairahawa. However, it suspended these flights last week citing “commercial reasons”.
This is the second time in less than a year that Jazeera has stopped its flights to and from Bhairahawa. The first time was in December last year when it chose not to fly to the airport for three months. Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-China joint venture, also flew to and from GBIA only for two months before deciding to stop.
The airport was inaugurated as Nepal’s second international airport on May 16, 2022, and Jazeera was the airliner that performed the inaugural flight. But the irregularity of its flights, coupled with the lack of interest shown by other carriers in flying to the airport, has alarmed and worried local businesses, especially those in the travel and hospitality business.
Sagar Adhikari, former president of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) Lumbini provincial chapter, called the suspension of flights a bad sign. “After a year of operation, the number of international airlines offering flights to Bhairahawa should have gone up. But instead, the sole company that came here has also decided to stop,” he expressed his concern.
Meanwhile, Deepak Bajracharya, spokesperson for GBIA, said that authorities were in talks with Jazeera regarding the suspension of flights.
Gyanendra Bhul, information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said that the Jazeera had halted its flights for administrative reasons and that it would resume it soon. “Its current flight schedule required Jazeera to make its employees work at night and thus, pay overtime. This increased its expenses. So, it requested us to change its schedule so that its flights take place in the morning.”
He added, “We are working on managing the flights and Jazeera has promised to resume its flights here again soon.”
