by – Anmol Purbey
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal on 30th October, 2022 stopped Nepal Airlines’ flight to Delhi from taking off, for defying instructions to move some of its international services to Bhairahawa’s empty airport. As many as 254 passengers were leaving for Delhi in the cancelled flight (many of them had connecting flights abroad), while 193 people were waiting to catch the same flight back to Nepal. This clearly shows CAAN put their interest above the interests of so many passengers.
For a country that is trying to make tourism a significant part of its economy, it is crucial that the infrastructures that supports this industry be improved & made more reliable. Both NAC and CAAN are government bodies and failure in coordination between both of them put the aviation industry of Nepal in a negative light. Nepal’s aviation industry is already not very honored since 2014 when the European Commission under the EU had put Nepal on the flight safety blacklist, showing security concerns over Nepal’s airspace. This incident just exacerbates the condition. Industry insiders say the move might unfavorably intimidate foreign carriers to operate from Bhairahawa. “That is negative promotion of the country. It will destroy tourism as a whole,”
Compelling airlines to move some of their flights to a specific airport is like saying we do not care that you will have to incur losses, you will just have to justify the billions we recklessly spent on Gautam Buddha Airport by shifting some of your flights to Bhairahawa. CAAN is supposed to get airlines to the Gautam Buddha Airport by creating more lucrative and feasible opportunities for them that attracts them naturally, and not by threatening them. The lone operator Jazeera Airways has also started facing problems as the international airport in Bhairahawa, which is fitted with the instrument landing system (ILS) that enables flights to land even in poor visibility, is not working.
Govinda Dahal, the general manager of Gautam Buddha International Airport, said in May, 2022 that after Jazeera Airways, Fly Dubai and Air Arabia are next in line to fly to the airport. Airline companies from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia are also looking to fly to Gautam Buddha International Airport. And currently, there are no signs of that. However, CAAN has also threatened Air Arabia, Fly Dubai and Qatar Airways with a deadline of December 15 to shift some of their flights to Bhairahawa.
All in all, the government failed to market the airport and launch promotional programmes to attract foreign airlines. The government then announced a host of free services for a year to attract foreign airlines which should have been done and promoted before the inauguration. CAAN should focus now to provide subsidies to attract airlines, at least for the starting period as starting a new route can be expensive for any carrier.
Moreover, since one of the reasons the second international airport was built in Bhairahawa was implementing decentralisation to curb social and economic disparities that were growing between the capital and everywhere else, and the people from Terai do not have to come all the way to Kathmandu for the labour permit, steps like introducing facilitation measures like opening a labour permit office in Bhairahawa could be taken to create demand. Opening a labour permit office in Bhairahawa will act as a coordination step between CAAN and NAC, from the government. Additionally, marketing Bhairahawa more, even to the domestic tourists will help the surge of incoming people. Finally, ORAT consultants (ORAT consultants help airport stakeholders to formulate new processes, train staff, and test every single new system and procedure from passenger and baggage handling to airside operations) should be appointed which the government had decided to do back in 2019 but aborted later.