The lock installed at Balewa Airport in Baglung four and a half years ago has still not been opened. The lock was installed after the airport was blacktopped and tidied up.

This lock has not been opened yet because there is no guarantee of the airport's operation. The airport, which operated sporadically until the unpaved runway was completed, has been closed since it was made permanent. After it was blacktopped in Baisakh 2078, the airport was fenced with a key hanging on the gate. There is still no possibility of it being opened. 

In the last parliamentary election of 2079, most of the candidates had made an agenda to operate the Balewa Airport here and sought votes. For three years, this airport remained surrounded by barbed wire. It was not operated. Even now, locals are asking when this blacktop airport will be operational. But this time, the candidates do not have an answer. Rather, this time, the party has not even made an agenda for the airport. Locals say that the airport, which was built at a cost of crores of rupees, should be operational.

Before the opening of the Pokhara-Baglung road, regular flights used to operate at Balewa Airport from 2022 BS to 2050 BS. Even though it was a raw airport, it was packed with passengers. When the flight operated three days a week, passengers from Pokhara, Bhairahawa and Kathmandu traveled. From where the then CDO's force used to travel. 'There were few people who got regular tickets, tickets were issued to the sick and disabled on the recommendation of the CDO,' said local Kamal GC, 'It was a situation where tickets were issued a day or two in advance.' Now this airport is abandoned. After painting this airport, which was blacktopped four years ago, not a single plane has come. The surrounding grounds are rusting and the blacktop seems to be dilapidated. 'After the Pokhara road was opened, planes were thinning in Balewa, and residents of Baglung, Parbat and Myagdi received service from the airport, which was closed.

After the airport was blacktopped in 2078, not a single plane has come here. No one has even shown interest in operating the airport. 'Kashtamandap Uma & Samyukta Nirman Company' had blacktopped Balewa Airport in Baisakh 2078 at a cost of 82.434 million rupees. About 700 meters of blacktopped, 1,100 meters of ground has been graveled. The 30-meter-wide field is surrounded by a wire fence. Even after the terminal building was repaired and painted, there has been no initiative to fly the aircraft. 

The fence of Balewa Airport in Narayansthan, Baglung Municipality-14, is currently rusting. Ward Chairman Chakra Bahadur Khatri says he is saddened by the dilapidated property. ‘We are waiting for the aircraft, if it does not operate regularly, let’s find an alternative to the use of this place,’ he said, ‘Even if it is by conducting many aviation-related activities, this airport should be preserved.’