Even though Pokhara International Airport has been in operation for two years, no regular international flights have been conducted so far. It has been two years since Pokhara Airport was inaugurated on December 17 (January 1). During this period, 7 chartered and 3 other international flights have been conducted so far.

On Thursday, the eighth international charter flight is being conducted by Sichuan Airlines from Chengdu, China. The narrow body ship is going to land at Pokhara Airport at 9:50 am on Thursday with a Chinese team of 126 people who will participate in the second international dragon boat race on December 14 and 15 at Phewa Lake. The plane will stay in Pokhara for one hour and return via Kathmandu. This is the third chartered flight of Sichuan Air to Pokhara.

Earlier, charter flights were conducted from China, Bhutan and India. When the airport was inaugurated on January 1, 2023, a Himalayan Airlines flight flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara on international standards. On June 21, a chartered plane of Sichuan Airlines arrived from Chengdu, China with 84 Chinese athletes and guests.

They participated in the first Dragon Boat Race Festival held at Phewatal. On September 9, the 'charter' plane of Bhutan's Druk Air returned from Pokhara with 45 foreign guests. 

On November 8, 2023, two ships of the Chinese People's Liberation Army came with relief for the earthquake victims of Jajarkot and Rukum. On November 10th and 11th, Himalaya Airlines flight started Kathmandu-Pokhara flight . On November 23, 2023, Himalaya Airlines came to Pokhara carrying 95 runners from Kunming, China.

This year, on November 7 (November 22), Sichuan Airlines came to Pokhara from Kunming with 120 athletes and Chinese guests participating in the cross-country race. The American Wingtip Corporation jet came to Pokhara from Kathmandu for parking on November 2. On November 13, a single-engine jet plane of the European company Zell Air came to Pokhara from New Delhi, India, on a chartered flight with crew and 4 passengers.

Businessmen of Pokhara discussed with officials of the Civil Aviation Authority in Pokhara on Thursday regarding the early operation of regular international flights from Pokhara Airport. The 'jumbo' team of the authority participated in the discussion organized by Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Natta) Gandaki Province. In the

discussion, businessmen of Pokhara asked to take initiative for regular international flights. Addressing the requests of the businessmen, CAN officials presented five measures for regular international flights in Pokhara.

Tribhuvan Airport load distribution

Civil Aviation Authority Director General Pradeep Adhikari has said that since Tribhuvan Airport is currently carrying more than capacity, if the load can be divided between Pokhara and Bhairahawa, both airports will operate. In the

discussion, he said that the government should pay special attention to it and the political leaders and businessmen of Pokhara should take initiatives towards it. "The annual capacity of Tribhuvan airport terminal is 5 million passengers, but now it has to serve 10 million passengers," he said.

He said that in order to save Nepal from the danger of being 'air locked' when the capacity of Tribhuvan Airport is not sufficient, the state has strategically built the airports of Pokhara and Bhairahawa.

'Tribhuvan Airport's traffic should be diverted to Pokhara and Bhairahawa. It had to be regulated by the state. This should be the next agenda," he said, "Pokhara has also contributed to the country's gross domestic product. Traffic belongs to the state, we should take our equal share. Only the Director General of the Authority cannot do this . The state should be challenged. ’ 

He said that there is no difference in the authority's income when an international flight lands in Kathmandu and when it lands in Pokhara and Bhairahawa and the law itself gives the authority the right to designate the runway of any airport in Nepal to land. 

Mandatory flight for national flag carrier, pressure on China

The director general said that the authority has asked the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines and Himalaya Airlines to make one flight a week from Pokhara. He said that Himalaya Airlines is preparing to operate one flight a week from Pokhara to Lhasa in Tibet from next March.

'Only two of the four planes with Nepal Airlines can fly from the narrow body Pokhara . One of those ships has gone for C-Check,' he said, 'After returning, he also has to take one international flight from Pokhara in a week.' 

He mentioned that the domestic airline company needs to be strengthened as the foreign airline company will start international flights just by looking at how much profit the national flag carrier has made. He said that since Pokhara Airport was built by China, it should also be pressured for regular flights. Said, '10 percent of the ships coming to Kathmandu from China should be pressured to bring them to Pokhara. Sichuan Airlines can start that .' 

Businessmen's activity is necessary

Deputy Director General of the Authority Dipendra Lal Karna said that the businessmen here should be more active as they cannot pressure the ship company to start flights from Pokhara. "Until the market here is booming, it will not work to force flights," he said, "businessmen here should look for passengers abroad." Let's start with charter.'

Presenting the context that the businessmen who sell tickets from Pokhara have not brought a single charter flight so far, he said that the cooperation of businessmen from Pokhara is necessary in the operation of the airport. "The air service company does not care if the place is good or bad, it looks at the profit in the business," he said. Pokhara should do the same.'  

Another deputy director general and corporate director of the authority, Hansraj Pandey, said that it is the responsibility of the local businessmen to assure that the air service company will be profitable when international flights are launched from the airport.

He said that since this year, the financial situation of the authority has become a disaster since the Pokhara airport has to pay its debt. "The authority itself is in a state of breaking the bank while paying the loan of Pokhara airport," he said, "we have to pay 2 billion in a year but we are not afraid that we have to pay the loan." The airport must also be operational to pay China's debt.

He said that although the national flag carrier has the first responsibility to fly international flights from Pokhara, it is unfortunate that the number of ships is low. Stating that two of the 4 ships of Nepal Air Service Corporation are operating and they have to serve 80 destinations in 43 countries with air contracts, he said, 'If this is the case, there is no option to ask foreigners to come and run our airport.' 

Gandaki workers to fly from Pokhara

Officials of the authority have suggested that the workers of Gandaki province who are going to work abroad for regular international flights from Pokhara should fly from here . In the discussion, Director General Pradeep Adhikari said that if the workers of Gandaki province can be flown from Pokhara, the passenger traffic of Tribhuvan Airport will also be reduced.

'More than 80 percent of those who go for foreign employment are in the Terai region, so we have seen the potential in Bhairahawa as well,' he said, 'Let's make Pokhara for workers going from Gandaki province to go through Pokhara.' He said that since Pokhara is an airport with a large number of domestic flights and passenger traffic, international flights will be possible. He said, 'There may be a desire of some people not to have a flight to Pokhara due to lack of regular passengers, that desire should not be fulfilled.' Tell . "We should be able to say that these are the destinations that will give business to international airlines from Pokhara," he said, "at least two such specific destinations should be identified." He said that