India has agreed to provide additional entry points from Bhairahawa and Janakpur to the airplanes coming to Nepali airports.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and the Airports Authority of India have jointly applied with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the international regulatory body for aviation sector, to make working procedure and airpath for cross-border entry points through Bhairahawa and Janakpur, according to Director General of CAAN Sanjeev Gautam.
Planes can only exit through these two points now. The routes will be established when ICAO prepares a catalog including the working procedure for flights after conducting a study. The CAAN will also prepare a working procedure of its own taking different altitudes in consideration after getting ICAO approval. Safety assessment will also have to be made after approval of these routes.
Planes coming from New Delhi and further west will reach Kathmandu more easily and in a shorter time once they get to enter Nepal through Bhirahawa, as planes can currently enter Nepal from India only through Simara. The Bhairahawa route will be easier also for the international airports at Pokhara and Nijgadh once they come into operation.
But how easier it will for the Bhairahawa Airport, which is set to come into operation by the end of 2019, has yet to be known.
Nepal was stressing for entry through Nepalgunj or Mahendranagar as losing altitude in the Nepali air after entering Nepal on a high altitude takes more time.
India had agreed in principle to provide additional entry routes for airplanes to Nepal through Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nepalgunj and Mahendranagar apart from Birgunj on June 16, 2018. But India, before applying with ICAO, has said had Biratnagar, Nepalgunj and Mahendranagar cannot be included now.
DG Gautam assured that though Bhirahawa route will not be as easy as that from Nepalgunj or Mahendranagar, it will not be too bad either.
CAAN officials fear that India will not immediately provide entry points from Nepalgunj or Mahendranagar even for the Bhairahawa Airport and say the Bhairahawa route should be designed effectively.
DG Gautam said operation of airports will not be commercially affected due to lack of entry points after operation of two additional entry points. "It will not be too difficult even for Bhirahawa Airport. The planes do not necessarily have to enter Nepali air at 37,000 feet. They enter through Simara at 15,000 feet even now," he pointed. "Planes will land in Bhairahawa as per the working procedure for flights even if they enter at 15,000 feet."
The runway of Bhairahawa is currently being blacktopped, and the project plans to complete blacktopping of the runway and taxi-way by mid-May, and the terminal and tower by June.
The project plans to complete all construction works by June, and finish installation of aviation equipment by October to make the airport ready for operation by the end of 2019.
