Kathmandu, December 1

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been carrying out maintenance works of various domestic airports across the country rapidly in recent times.

Soon after the CAAN unveiled its budget in May for the fiscal year 2019-20 it had started the maintenance and upgradation of several domestic airports.

In the first four months of the current fiscal year, CAAN has completed runway blacktopping, extended parking bays, aprons, and taxiways along with extending terminal buildings of numerous domestic airports.

According to CAAN, expansion of taxiway and apron at Biratnagar airport has been completed while runway maintenance at Janakpur airport has been completed so far.

Meanwhile, the capacity of the Janakpur airport is also being upgraded so that it can handle night flights. As per CAAN, flight operation procedures for night flights are in the final phase in Janakpur.

Similarly, the remaining work of runway maintenance at Bhadrapur airport has also been carried out recently while at Dhangadhi airport the work of laying asphalt on the runway is underway. Dhangadhi airport has currently halted flight operations partially for runway maintenance works.

Bharatpur airport is also not in operation at the moment for runway maintenance works.

According to CAAN, works related to the apron and patch works of the runway are being carried out at Bharatpur airport.

Meanwhile, the construction of the apron at Nepalgunj airport is in the final phase.

Construction of runway and apron at Baitadi airport is also underway. As per CAAN, maintenance and upgradation works at almost all operational domestic airports will be completed by this fiscal year.

Furthermore, CAAN has stated that the process to prepare the master plan for flight operations on the Manthali-Lukla route is also underway. As the government has decided to operate all flights to Lukla from Manthali airport located in Ramechhap, CAAN is doing homework for smooth flight operations. Besides, the upgradation of Manthali airport is also going on.

As per CAAN, work of upgrading Tribhuvan International Airport as a boutique airport has achieved 90 per cent progress so far and will be ready by December.

The government will inaugurate the boutique airport on January 1, 2020 along with the inauguration of Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign.