Buddha Air will manage the newly-opened departure hall

KATHMANDU, JUNE 12

The newly-constructed departure terminal building (domestic sector) of Tribhuvan International Airport was brought into operation today. Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale inaugurated the departure hall.

The two-and-a-half storey terminal building whose construction commenced two years ago has been constructed at a total cost of Rs 100 million, Hari Adhikari, chief of civil engineering at TIA informed THT.

"The ground floor of the building is solely for the departure purpose while the first floor will house the office of the Nepali Army," said Adhikari.

Buddha Air, a private airline, will manage the newly-opened departure hall that consists of three gates, Premnath Thakur, general manager of TIA told THT.

"Since Buddha Air conducts 60 per cent of domestic flights, we handed them the management of this new departure hall. Gates No 4, 5, and 6 will handle departures for Buddha Air," said Thakur.

"The remaining airlines will use the old departure hall of the domestic terminal. Shree Airlines has been assigned Gate No 1, Tara Airlines and Yeti Airlines Gate No 2, and Saurya Airlines Gate No 3."

Thakur said the domestic flight service would be hassle-free and the flow of passengers would be managed in a systematic manner following the operation of the departure hall.

"The TIA's domestic terminal handles around 13,000 to 14,000 passengers on a daily basis, causing overcrowding whenever flights got delayed," said Thakur, adding, "The seating capacity of the new departure hall is 400. With the older one's 350 seats, it means that the domestic sector can now handle 750 passengers at one time."

Minister Ale laid the foundation stone for TIA's domestic arrival terminal building, which will be constructed by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

According to Adhikari, the total cost of construction of the new building spread over 10,000 square feet, is estimated to be around Rs 50 million and is scheduled to be completed within a year. CAAN has awarded the project to Bright Multi Construction.

According to Thakur, the arrival terminal building will consist of VIP arrival hall, waiting room with 25 seats reserved for children, elderly, and incapacitated persons, restrooms, parking space for VIPs, and two luggage conveyor belts.

"The current arrival terminal building is inconvenient and collecting luggage is quite a hassle because it has one conveyor belt," said Thakur.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 13, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.