Even though Pokhara International Airport has been in operation for two years, no regular international flights have been conducted yet. 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 taken place so far.

On Thursday, the eighth international charter flight was made by Sichuan Airlines from Chengdu, China. A narrow body ship carrying a Chinese team of 126 people who will participate in the second international dragon boat race to be held on December 14 and 15 in Phewatal landed at the Pokhara airport on Thursday. This is the third chartered flight of Sichuan Air in Pokhara. 

Previously, charter flights were operated from China, Bhutan and India. When the airport was inaugurated on January 1, 2023, a flight of Himalayan Airlines flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara on an international standard. 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 "chartered" plane of Bhutan's Druk Air returned from Pokhara carrying 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 West. 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.

On November 7 (November 22) this year, 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, with crew and four passengers on a chartered flight. 

Businessmen of Pokhara discussed with officials of the Civil Aviation Authority in Pokhara on Wednesday 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 sharing

Since Tribhuvan International Airport is carrying more than capacity, the load can be divided between Pokhara and Bhairahawa, Director General of Civil Aviation Authority Pradeep Adhikari said. He said that the government should pay special attention to it and Pokhara's political leaders and businessmen should take initiative in that direction. 

The annual capacity of Tribhuvan airport terminal is 5 million passengers. But now we have to serve 10 million people,' said the official, 'If we can distribute 50 lakhs between Pokhara and Bhairahawa, international flights will not be a problem.' In order to save Nepal from the danger of being 'air-locked' when the Tribhuvan airport is not capable, he said that Pokhara and Bhairahawa airport have been built by the state. There is a saying. 

'Tribhuvan airport traffic should be diverted to Pokhara and Bhairahawa. It had to be regulated by the state. This should be the next agenda," said the official, "Pokhara has also contributed to the gross domestic product of the country. Traffic is state, 

should say take our equal share. Only the Director General of the Authority cannot do this. The state should be shaken.' 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

National flag carrier Nepal Airlines and Himalaya Airlines have been asked by the authority 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, 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 should also make one international flight from Pokhara.' He mentioned that it is necessary. He said that since Pokhara Airport was built by China, it should also be pressured for regular flights.

said, 'There should be pressure to bring 10 percent of the ships coming to Kathmandu from China to Pokhara. Sichuan Airlines can start that.' 

businessmen's activism is necessary

The Deputy Director General of the Authority, Deependra Lal Karna, said that the businessmen here should be more active as they cannot pressure the ship company to fly from Pokhara. "Until the market here is booming, there will be no forced flights," he said, "businessmen here should look for passengers abroad." Let's start with the charter.

Presenting the context that the businessmen selling tickets from Pokhara have not been able to bring 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.'  Hansraj Pandey, another deputy director general and corporate director of the authority, says that it is the responsibility of the local businessmen to assure that the airline company will make a profit when international flights are launched from the airport. He said that since this year, the financial situation of the authority has turned into a disaster because of having to pay the loan of Pokhara Airport.

"The authority itself is in a situation of breaking its back while paying the loan of Pokhara airport," he said, "we have to pay two billion a year, but we are not panicking that we have to pay the loan." The airport must also be operational to pay China's debt. He said that it is unfortunate that the number of ships is low even though the national flag carrier has the first responsibility to operate international flights from Pokhara.

He said that two out of four ships of Nepal Airlines Corporation operated and had to serve 80 destinations in 43 countries with air contracts. "If this is the case, there is no option to ask foreigners to come and run our airport," he said. 

Arrangement for Gandaki workers to fly from Pokhara

Officials of the authority suggested that the workers of Gandaki province who go to work abroad for regular international flights from Pokhara should be arranged to fly from here. 

Officials say that if workers from Gandaki province can be flown from Pokhara, the passenger traffic of Tribhuvan Airport will also decrease. 'More than 80 percent of those who go for foreign employment are in the Terai region, so we have seen the potential in Bhairahawa,' he said, 'let's make it necessary for workers going from Gandaki province to go through Pokhara.' According to Vasu Tripathi, a tourism businessman, international flights are possible because of Pokhara airport. "There may be a desire of some people not to have a flight to Pokhara due to lack of regular passengers in Bhairahawa, that desire should not be allowed to be fulfilled," he said. 

Identification of the destination

Director of the authority Vikram Gautam said that it is necessary to identify the destination that attracts the most passengers in Pokhara. ``It should be possible to say that these are the destinations that will give business from Pokhara to international airlines,'' he said, ``At least two such specific destinations should be identified.''

"Pokhara airport is a good toy placed in the market, it is the responsibility of the businessmen to sell it," said Gautam. Krishna Acharya, president of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAN) Gandaki, said that businessmen have invested in infrastructure in the hope of increasing tourists after the construction of Pokhara Airport.