Kathmandu, November 11

Flight operations at Bhadrapur airport will be halted from Tuesday for airport maintenance works.

According to the regional Civil Aviation Office, flight operations from and to Bhadrapur airport will be halted for 10 days for runway blacktopping.

“Blacktopping of the runway of Bhadrapur airport will start from Tuesday. Moreover, other regular maintenance works will also be carried out during this time. So, the airport will resume operations from November 22 only,” said Airport Chief Purna Prasad Chudal.

Chudal further said that half of the work of blacktopping the 1,500-metre-long runway had already been completed before the festive season. As the construction had been carried out during the night time, no flights were affected at that time. But due to the change in the weather at the moment, construction activities have to be carried out during the day time, so the flights are going to be affected.

“The weather is not favourable at night for the construction during winter season, so we have to do the work during the day time,” he added.

He, however, said that helicopters can be operated in case of emergency during these 10 days. “Helicopters will be allowed for VIPs and other emergency cases,” Chudal added. Meanwhile, Airline Operators Association of Nepal has issued a notice that flights for Bhadrapur will be diverted to Biratnagar airport for the convenience of passengers.

“Due to airport maintenance work at Bhadrapur airport, flights will be diverted to Biratnagar. Airline operators will operate additional flights to Biratnagar for the next 10 days,” reads the notice.

Currently nine flights a day are being operated at Bhadrapur airport. Of the total number of flights, Buddha Air is operating three flights a day, while Yeti Airlines is operating two daily flights.

Likewise, Shree Airlines is operating two flights while one flight each of Saurya Airlines and Nepal Airlines Corporation are being operated daily at Bhadrapur airport.