International flights are set to resume at Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) after a six-month hiatus, with Thai AirAsia restarting its operations between Bhairahawa and Thailand starting Sunday.
According to GBIA General Manager Pratap Babu Tiwari, the Thailand-based carrier has received permission to operate two flights per week. He also stated that Jazeera Airways plans to resume its flights from the airport after the Tihar festival.
The GBIA was officially inaugurated on April 21, 2022, and has since seen operations by Thai AirAsia, Himalaya Airlines, Nepal Airlines, Fly Dubai, and Jazeera Airways. However, these airlines have struggled to maintain consistent flight schedules.
In April 2024, four international airlines temporarily operated flights from Bhairahawa during the renovation of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). During that brief period, GBIA handled up to 20 flights per week, but operations lasted for only about a month.
Following that, regular international flights were suspended, with only a few chartered flights being conducted. Despite the government’s push to position GBIA as an alternative international hub to TIA, airlines have been reluctant to operate regularly due to low passenger demand.
To address this, the government has introduced an action plan to attract airlines and boost flight operations. The plan includes concessions on air tickets, ground handling fees, and aviation fuel, as well as the removal of VAT on air tickets and the waiver of ground handling service charges.
Constructed at a total cost of US$ 76 million, the GBIA project received US$ 37 million in funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and US$ 11 million from the OPEC Fund for International Development, with the remaining amount financed by the Government of Nepal.
