Rajbiraj Airport to resume flights soon

Rajbiraj, April 20

Rajbiraj Airport, which had halted its flights for almost three decades due to poor condition of the runway, is preparing to resume its services within a few weeks in Saptari.

The airport will come into operation after completing the black topping of 1.5-km long and 30-metre wide runway at the cost of Rs 303 millions. According to Nepal Civil Aviation Authority project coordinator Ramekwal Mahato, the construction of runway, apron and taxi-way has already been completed. However, the repair of tower and terminal building, marking on the runway and drainage management are yet to be done.

Technical team from the civil aviation authority has already started fixing necessary equipment and devices for the resumption of flights reaching the airport. “The repair work and maintenance is intensified in such a way that we may be able to resume flights from the second week of May. We are preparing to conduct test flights within a couple of days. Buddha Air is showing its interest to conduct regular flights while we are discussing with other airline companies about regular flights,” said Mahato.

The airport that was inaugurated by then transportation minister Ganesh Man Singh in 1959. Flights were disrupted several times due to lack of black topped runway and the airport halted all the flights from 1990.