The two airports of Bhairahawa and Pokhara, which were built as an alternative to the only Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, have been in operation for two and a half years and two years respectively, but regular flights have not yet been completed.

Meanwhile, regular or chartered flights from Bhairahawa to reputed international airlines such as Qatar Airways, Fly Dubai, Jazeera, Thai Air Asia, including the national flag carrier of Nepal, have not been sustainable. As no airlines show interest in regular flights from Pokhara, the number of international flights has barely reached ten. They are also only chartered flights. 

Since last November 23, the government has asked airline companies to use Bhairahawa and Pokhara airports with discounts to compensate for the 30 percent reduction in flights caused by the closure of Kathmandu airport for ten hours daily for five months due to the runway upgrade work. Based on that, five international airlines, including the national flag carrier, started regular flights from Bhairahawa Airport after a long period of absence. But this exhilarating and exciting activity finally started to fade towards the middle of November, less than a month later. 

Out of the four international airlines, Qatar did not want to renew the 1-month regular flight permit to Kathmandu via Bhairahwa after the period expired. The other three postponed, citing bad winter weather. Lately, they are trying to cancel the flight altogether. Although Jazeera and Fly Dubai have announced a regular flight schedule that will start after winter, there are doubts that it will be sustainable. It is understood that the national flag carrier currently flying to Bhairahawa is flying only in name without picking up or disembarking any passengers from Bhairahawa. 

Now the question arises - Why are the airlines reluctant to continue the flight even after giving huge discounts, concessions and facilities in fees like landing, communication and aviation services, parking, navigation, security check, ground handling, fuel etc. Why are new ones not coming? Although airlines blame the bad weather, the real reason is said to be a lack of passengers. If the number of passengers is the main reason, why is it not increasing? The government should try to find an answer to this question. But it seems that they are only trying to trick the international airlines by saying that they will fly. Moreover, if it does not work, it seems that the responsible officer is giving the threat of cutting the flight to Kathmandu in meetings and seminars which can be more productive. 

discounts and conveniences are rivaled by airlines. On the part of the passengers, there are sorrows, pains and sufferings including expensive air tickets, lack of government service facilities, harsh, uncertain and difficult road travel. Even though passengers are said to be exempted from passenger service fee, tourism fee and VAT, practically the air fare from or to the same destination cannot be cheaper than from Kathmandu. These airports are 'more airline friendly and less passenger friendly' due to lack of passenger oriented facilities. So passengers are disappointed and desperate. 

Since the weather is not the main reason, it is more relevant to discuss the reasons why the number of passengers is low. The main reason for the non-increasing number of passengers is that these airports and related service facilities are not passenger-friendly. Although the airport itself looks modern, well-equipped, clean, tidy, equipped and full of facilities, the basic structure alone is not complete enough to be passenger-friendly. Because, in the context of Nepal, the situation outside the airport premises has played a greater role in becoming 'traveller-unfriendly'. 

Most of the passengers of the flight from Bhairahawa are foreign workers. In that context, naturally, expansion and installation of services such as government service providers, visa centers, health tests, etc., required for the three, cannot be done completely without having to go to Kathmandu. Apart from these, there are important reasons that are not given special attention but directly affect the passengers. 

Ailing roads and poor transport network 

The expected demographic territory served by these two airports is the entire Terai region and the western half of Nepal. But there is neither reliable air service nor road transport network to reach these airports across medium and long distances. Domestic air flights are two-way only from Kathmandu, while the flights between Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Biratnagar are also not in proper number as they sometimes operate like Barkhe Bhel, sometimes stop and coordinate with international flights. Therefore, domestic flights cannot be relied upon to reach these airports from anywhere other than Kathmandu. 

The only alternative to air travel is road transport. The highway touches both these airports. But the quality of most of the roads called highways are narrow, dilapidated and potholed. Due to the fact that the roads that are under construction are such that people or animals can cross the road, it is not possible to reach the destination at a certain time. Therefore, at the present time, it seems possible to catch a flight only if people other than locals travel to use these airports and arrive a day before the flight time. Doing so naturally takes more time and expense. 

Recently, when this train traveled from Kathmandu to reach these two airports through public express transport, it took 10 hours to reach Bhairahwa, which is 285 km, and 10 hours to reach Pokhara, which is 200 km. This situation is not because of any sudden event that happened that day but it is destiny and everyday life for years. It seems that it will take a few more years to complete these pending road contracts, which are said to be under construction for years. According to other passengers and drivers, these journeys take between nine and 14 hours. It would hardly take a whole day on any country's highway to cover 200 km, which should take at most 4 hours. Millions of hours of energy time of thousands of commuters are wasted on unproductive journeys every day. Foreign tourists traveling by road are also impressed and are returning with the same message. 

On the one hand, it is difficult to reach the airport like this, but on the other hand, visitors from abroad also have difficulty reaching their destination after landing. The joy of landing at Bhairahawa is overshadowed by the search for a ride home. Because, public transport services are not available from these airports to reach nearby cities and medium and long distance cities. Now whether it is Bhairahawa or Pokhara, passengers are obliged to take a taxi of arbitrary fare to go out of the airport. 

In Bhairahawa, although public taxi fares have been fixed for key locations near the airport, the information has been patched to the corner and passengers are not able to see it. Visitors who have to go far away like Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Narayangadh, feel frustrated and have to spend the night in hotels because of the lack of transport services. Therefore, if there is no easy arrangement of short, medium and long distance transportation from the airport, no one wants to go to the new airport on an uncertain journey. 

Expensive ticket price

Looking at the fares set by the airlines for landing at Bhairahawa airport or taking off from here, it seems that Sardar is not cheaper than from Kathmandu, but rather more expensive. Fly Dubai and Qatar have fixed the same fares when flying to Kathmandu via Bhairahawa regardless of where they land or board at Bhairahawa or Kathmandu. Still Fly Dubai has fixed the same fares for the upcoming schedule. Only Jazeera, which has a two-way direct flight, had set fares half as cheap as those from Kathmandu when coming to Bhairahawa from Kuwait. But departure from Bhairahawa was more expensive than Kathmandu. The same has been done for the upcoming schedule.

Thai AirAsia never put online booking in the system. It was made possible to buy tickets only by going to his office. Apart from the initial promotional price, it did not seem to be monitored how expensive it was sold. Even though Nepal Airlines has set the schedule and fare for departure from Kathmandu to Dubai via Bhairahwa, tickets cannot be purchased for departure from Bhairahwa. Therefore, even after landing at Bhairahawa, the passengers, airlines, airport and other resources and time are wasted if the door is not opened and the passengers go to Dubai. Overall, there is no reason why passengers should be motivated to fly from here due to zero concession on ticket prices. It is important for regulatory bodies to understand that no one will fly to these new airports unless the plane fare is significantly cheaper than from Kathmandu. 

epilogue 

It took eight years to complete Bhairahawa Airport, which was supposed to be completed in four years. On the other hand, even though it took seven years for Pokhara to be ready, neither the lenders nor the leading agencies including the Planning Commission maintained that the road networks should also be repaired for these operations and easy access for passengers. Due to the one-sided focus on the airport and the construction of roads and other infrastructures were not carried forward together as a joint project, this result has to be faced today. 

Any ongoing road construction contracts connected with Bhairahawa, Pokhara, Kathmandu have been extended time and time again and still cannot be trusted to be completed on time. Even if it is done on time, it will take a few more years. The road department explains in its annual report that the reason for not completing the work on time is 'delay in the mobilization of resources and poor management of the construction business', but it does not periodically inspect the contractor's work and suggest it to be done on time, nor does it take action. Instead, it is intended to extend the deadline by adding cost through the variation order. Therefore, if the overall contract system is not improved, its impact will continue to affect the operation of the new international airport.