This post has dedicated to the List of Airports in Nepal. It consists both domestic and international. Here we have posted the names of domestic airports in Nepal. Likewise, we also posted name of International airport in Nepal. The official webpage of Tribhuwan International Airport, Nepal is tiairport.com.np.

These name list of airports in Nepal may belongs to Nepal airport name list, name of airport in Nepal, international airport in Nepal, dangerous the airport in Nepal, new international airport in Nepal, second international airport in Nepal, Lukla airport in Nepal, main airport in Nepal, all airports in Nepal, list of all airports in Nepal, number of international airports in Nepal and most dangerous airports in Nepal.

Nepal is a small country which is rich in natural diversity. Nepal can be divided into three ecological areas as regards the landscape: Terai, Hills and Himalayas. These ecological belts run east-west and are vertically intersected by Nepal’s major, north to south flowing river systems. Most people in the country live in the plainest area, as life is much easier there than in mountainous zones.

The distribution of Nepali population by district, confirming the previous statement except for the two most populated districts: Kathmandu and Morang, where the second business city in Nepal, Biratnagar, is located. Most of the airports are spread into the Hills (37.5%) and Himalayas (35.4%), where in some cases they are the unique mean of transport in the surroundings. Nepal has a large airport network, made up of a total of 48 airports. They are distribute all over the country, although in the eastern and western regions they are more

Assembled, specially because of the complicated terrain which makes difficult by other means of transport to reach them. Only 34 of the 48 airports have regular flights, whereas another 4 are considered charter and the rest of them are inoperative.

However, if an airline asks for the permission to operate a flight in one of those last airports, and its infrastructures are in good conditions, it is possible to operate in them. Airports with scheduled flights can be classified in three categories: international, regional and domestic.

International Airport

Currently there is only one airport with international operations arriving/ departing from the country: Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

Regional Hub Airports

There are four airports considered as regional hubs, as they receive passengers from Kathmandu and spread them to other smaller airports in the region where they are sited. There are not cross sector flights in Nepal, so people fly through Kathmandu and these airports from one point to another.

These four regional airports are Biratnagar (serving mainly Eastern region), Pokhara and Bhairahawa (Gautam Buddha) (Western region) and Nepalgunj (Mid-Western and Far West regions).

Domestic Airports

The rest of airports with scheduled flights are domestic. In general they only make their flights to a regional airport, and sometimes it is the only way of reach to these areas since road access is not possible.

Within this group, very different airports are considered. Some of them are similar in infrastructures to regional airports, while others consist simply of a kind of runway with very few or no more facilities to use. There are many domestic airports in Nepal which are providing services to Nepalese.

Today, we will provide you the information about the airports of Nepal. Hoping you will enjoy it :

Tribhuwan International Airport; It is the only one international airport. It is situated in the Kathmandu, a Capital city of Nepal. It is at the distance of six kilometers from the city centre in the Kathmandu valley and 1 KM away from Pashupatinath Temple.. Since 1949, this airport is being served as airfield. The airport is inaugurated by King Mahendra in 1955 and he renamed the airport as Tribhuwan International Airport . In 1964, it was named as Tribhuwan Airport. In 1957, it as re-laid in concrete and several times and in 1967, it has been extended to 6,600 feet from 750 feet. Also, in 1975, it has been extended from 6,600 feet to 10,000 feet. . In the year, 1967, the first jet aircraft, Lufthansa Boeing 707 landed at the airport. In 1972, regular jet operations were commenced by Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation. This airport only one having one domestic and one international terminal. The

airport has handled 3.21 million passengers in 2015. In these days, about 30 international airlines are being connected Nepal with destination places in Asia and the Middle East. Tribhuwan airport serves as a hub for several Nepalese airlines such as Buddha Air, Simrik Airlines, Tara Air, Sita Air, Yeti Airlines, Nepal Airlines, Himalayan Airlines, Shree Airlines and Saurya Airlines. The airport is a public airport operated by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal ( CAAN). Earlier, it was called Gauchaur airport which was named after the area where it was situated. In 1949, the formal beginning of aviation occurred with the landing of Beechcraft Bonzana aircraft which carried Indian Ambassador. On 20 February 1950, in a Himalayan aviation Dakota the first charter flight took place between Gauchar and Calcutta.

The airport has a 10,007 feet concrete runway at present. There is no availability of an instrumental landing system. It has terminal for VIP guests along with international and domestic terminal. Outside the airport, there are some tea shops and few ATMs for drawing of Money. For first and Business class passengers of some airlines, Raddison Hotel Kathmandu operates an executive lounge as well for Business- class passengers and Star Alliance Gold card holders, Thai Airways International operates business lounge. Just at the distance of 200 meters from Airport, Airport hotel is located.

Various accidents have been taking place in Tribhuwan Airport which are;

On May 10, 1972; A Thai Airways Douglas DC-8 carrying 100 passengers and 10 crews on board was overrun on one runway during landing. In this accident, one man died.
On July 31, 1992, An Airbus A310-304 of Thai airways international Flight crashed into a mountain while approaching Kathmandu where 113 people were killed.
On September 28, 1992, An airplane A300 B4-203 operated as PIA Flight 268 crashed in which 167 people died.
On January 17, 1995; Royal Nepal Airlines De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin otter 300 the flight from Kathmandu to Rumjatar with three crew members and passengers struck the airfield fence and plunged into fields. One crew member and one passenger died in the accident.
In July 7 1999; A Boeing 727-200F of Lufthansa cargo airlines took off and after 5 minutes, it was stroked in the Champadevi hills at the level of 7550 feet and as crashed. All five crew members were died.
On September 5 1999; Necon Airflight 128 from Pokhara to Kathmandu was crashed in an wooden area by colliding with a communication tower of Nepal Telecom while landing in the Tribhuwan Airport. All 5 crew and 10 passengers died.
On December 26, 1999; From the route of Kathmandu to Delhi, Indian Airlines flight 814 was hijacked. Indian Airlines suspended all the flights from and to Nepal for some time with a fear of a lack of security at check-in.
On August 24 2010; In a heavy rain, Agni Air Flight 101, was crashed in hills near Shikharpur village outside the valley. All 11 passengers with 3 crew members were killed in the accident. The airplane had left from Tribhuwan Airport to Tenzing- Hillary Airport.
In December 2010, Tara air De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin otter lost signal and crashed when was departed from Lamidanda Airport to Tribhuwan Airport. All three crew members and 19 passengers who were Bhutanese citizens were killed.
On September 25th, 2011; A Beechcraft 1900D of Buddha Air flight struck the terrain due to low visibility while landing at inatribhuwan Airport. All three crew members and 6 passengers were killed.
On September 28th, 2012; a Dornier Do 228 of Sita Air flight 601 crashed by hitting a vulture soon after it took off. Three crew members and sixteen passengers were killed in the accident.
On March 4th, 2015; Aircraft A330-300 of Turkish airlines veered off the runway while landing in a dense fog. During its second attempt to land, it skidded into soft grass which caused the nose wheel to collapse. It was due to poor visibility. All the international flights were closed at that time. But all 227 passengers and 11 crew members were alive.
On May 27, 2017; Let L-140 aircraft of Summit Air flight 409 crashed while landing at Tenzing- Hillary Airport. The captain and first officers died while other crew members were injured.

Pokhara Airport;

Pokhara airport is the regional airport established on 4^th July 1958. It serves the flghts of Pokhara. It is operated by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. It offers regular flights to Jomsom and kathmandu as well seasonal flights to Mananag. According to the new agreement on air travel between Nepal and India, pokhara Airport is to be the second international airport. Construction of airport in south east was commenced in 009 but it is progressing slowly.

In 2011, Nepali private airline, Buddha air started it’s international flights from Pokhara to Chaudary Charan Singh international airport of Lucknow. It has announced the plans to fly to Indira Gandhi international airport , New delhi in near future. The apron of airport is very small which can hold the 8 small propeller planes at a time. It has the runway of 1,433 m. It is a diversion airport for the main airport due to fog. The airport can handle aircraft from Nepalese Army air Service.

Here are the destination of airlines;

Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu, Bairahawa, Bharatpur.
Gorkha Airlines; Kathmandu, Jomsom
Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu, Manang, Jomsom
Simrik Airlines; Kathmandu
Tara Airlines; Kathmandu, Jomsom
Sita Airlines; Kathmandu, Jomsom
Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu

Various accidents were ocured in Pokhara airport due to technical errors and natural causes;

On 6^th November 1997; Necon Air Avro 748-100 suffered a hydraulic system failure after landing at Pokhara Airport and ran off the runway. The plane was ran into the ramp and struck with another aircraft Avro 748 parked engineless. There were four crew members and 44 passengers in the air craft but there were no fatalities in the accident.
On 22^nd August 2002; A Shangri- La Air De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin otter 300 was crashed on a hill which was under cloud cover with 3 days of continuous rainfall on a flight from Jomsom to Pokhara. All 15 passengers and 3 crew members were killed in an accident.
On 16^th February 2014; Nepal Airlines de Havilland Cananda DHC-6 Twin otter 300 was crashed after taking off the flight from Nepali resort town of Pokhara to jumla. The crashed was occurred due to bad weather. 18 people were killed in the accident.

Biratnagar Airport; Biratnagar Airport is a regional airport serving Biratnagar city of Morang District. The airport is owned and operated by Government of Nepal. On 6^th july 1958, Biratnagar airport has commenced it’s operations. Biratnagar airport is located at an elevation of 6 feet above the sea level. It has the runway of 4,938 feet. The airport can handle aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air service. It was approved by Nepal Government form making it largest international airport in Nepal. The runway of Biratnagar Airport was floded on 15^th August 2017. The airport was force to close At that time, many parts of Nepal and India was flooded.

Below are the destinations of various Airlines;

Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu
Gorkha Airlines; Tumlingtar
Nepal Airlines; Taplejung, Thamkharka, Bhojpur, Lamidanda, Tumlingtar
Sita Airlines; Kathmandu
Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu

4. Gautam Buddha Airport ( Bhairahwa); Gautam Buddha Airport is situated in Bhairahwa city which is also known as Bhairahwa Airport. It is a regional airport serving Siddharthanagar Municipality of Rupandehi Disrict. It is located at an elevation of 358 feet above the sea level. It has one runway of 4,954 feet with an asphalt surface of 4 meters which connects only domestic routes.

Many works are been going on to upgrade the airport in to Nepal second largest International airport. The construction work was expected to be comleted in 208 but due to many problems, the pace of construction is slower. A runway of 3,000 meters and six international parking bays are planned to make. This project will e financed by loan and grant aid of $42.96 million and $12.75 million by Asian Development Bank.

Below are the Airlines names with their Destinations;

Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu
Gorkha Airlines; Kathmandu
Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu
Shree Airlines; Kathmandu
Simrik Airlines; Kathmandu

.5. Nepalgunj Airport; It is a regional airport serving Nepalgunj, submetropolitan city of Banke District. It is located in Nepalgunj city. It is the second largest Airport after Tribhuwan international airport in terms of area. It has also the second greatest number of passengers and aircraft. It is located at an elevation of 540 feet above the sea level. It has one runway of 5,007 feet with an asphalt surface of 1,504 bt 30 meters.

The airport can handle the Aircraft from Nepalsese Army air service. It has started it’s service from the year of 1961. After the introduction of FK-100 jet aircraft in 2005, the passenger movement had increased by 13.39% in comparison of 2004. Also, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has permitted the airlines named as Flying Dragon Airlines which is a joint venture company of Nepal and China in order to operate in remote areas of Mid western and far western development regions with operating base in Nepalgunj Airport.

Below are the name of Airlines and the destinations;

Nepal Airlines; Bajura, Bajhang, Dolpa, jumla, Simikot, Rukumkot, Talcha
Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu
Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu
Sita airlines; Dang, Kathmandu,
Tara Airlines; Dolpa, Jumla, Bajura, Simikot, Talcha
Shree Airlines; Kathmandu
Saurya Airlines; Kathmandu

Bajhang Airport; Bajhang airport is the local airport located in Dewal, Bajhang district of Seti zone. It serves airways for Bajhang. It is a public as well Government which resides at an elevation of 4,100 feet above the sea level. It has only one runway with the length of 2,100 feet.

Below are Airlines with their destinations;

Nepal Airlines; Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj

Bajura Airport; Bajura Airport is the local airport that serves for Bajura district. It is located at an elevation of 4,300 feet above the sea level. It has one runway with a length of 573 meters. It is an airport providing services in remote areas.

Airlines and their destinations;

Nepal Airlines; Nepalgunj
Simrik Airlines; Nepalgunj

Bhadrapur Airport; It is the domestic aiport which serves for Bhadrapur and Chandragadhi. This airport is also known as Chandragadhi airport. These both towns are situated in in Jhapa district of Mechi zone. This airport is small in area with no electronic equipments.

The airport is loated at an elevation of 300 feet. It has only one run way of 3,965 feet of length with an asphalt surface of 1,209 by 29 meters. The airport can handle the aircrafts from Nepalse Army Air Service. It took 3 hours to reach airport by road from Darjeeling via the Pashupatingar Illam route.

Airlines with their Destinations;

Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu, ATR 72-500 and 42 BDP 3 flights
Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu, Ma-60 BDP with daily 1 flight
Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu, JETSTREAM J41 BDP with 2 flights
Saurya Airlines; Kathmandu, CRJ-200 BDP with 2 flights

Bhojpur Airlines; This airport is situated in the Bhojpur district which serves the same district. The airport is located at an elevation of 4,000 feet above the sea level. It has only one run way of length 533 meters.

Airlines and their destinations;

Tara Airlines; Kathmandu
Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu, Biratnagar

Balewa Airport; This airport is situated in Baglung district. This airport is domestic airport.
Patan Airport; This is the domestic airport is located in Baitadi district of Far western Development Region.
Bharatpur Airport; Bharatpur Airport is a domestic airport serving Bharatpur ,a city in the Chitwan District. The airport is situated at the distance of 1 mile (1.6 km) south west of Bharatpur. It is operated and controlled by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). The airport is served by national airlines i.e. Nepal Airlines, that earns most of its revenue from this airport. Bharatpur Airport is the 4th Busiest airport of Nepal. Bharatpur is the main tourist gateway to Chitwan National Park, and the airport is growing fast in terms of aircraft and passenger traffic. The trend of five years shows a slow growth of aircraft and passenger movements. The data up to November 2005 shows a growth of 7.5% and 17.6% in the year 2004.

Earlier, The airport was built as part of the malaria control program and resettlement in the Chitwan valley. The program was aid with the assistance of the Government of the United States of America. On 5^th march 1965, the first passenger carrying flight was landed in the airport. The airport is located at an elevation of 600 feet above sea level. It has one runway which is about 1,158 by 30 metres. The airport comprises of one departure with operation terminal and one arrival terminal shed. Some shops are available around the airport. The airport can handle 3 ATR-42,2 Jet stream J-41 and one beech 1900 or any other STOL aircraft efficiently.

Airlines with their destinations;

Yeti Airlines; Kathmandu
Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu
Simrik Airlines; Kathmandu

Initially, the airport was served by domestic flights with grass runway from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and Pokhara Airport in Pokhara by the national airlines, Nepal Airlines. After many years of lobbying by the local people and expatriates living abroad, expansion of the airport was done but in limited area. A new terminal was also built and to enable medium-sized aircraft used by Nepal Airlines and other similar aircraft to operate, the 1158-metre runway was paved. Finally, the work was completed in October 2005.

Various incidents and accidents are being took place in Bharatpur Airport. Here are the events;

On 12^th July 1969 – The aircraft named RNA Douglas DC-3D (9N-AAP) was collided with a tree while flying over ridge covered by clouds at 7,300 feet at Hetauda city which is at the distance of 70 km from Bharatpur Airport. All 31 passengers and four crews were killed in the accident.
On 31^st July 1993 – An aircraft, Everest Air Dornier 228-101, on a flight from Kathmandu to Bharatpur was struck on a mountain at Bharatpur. All 16 passengers and three crews were killed.
On 25^th April 1996 – An Aircraft named RNA BAe 748 Series 2B (9N-ABR) when landing in rain on a grass strip after a flight from Kathmandu over ran the runway at Meghauli Airport which is 19 km southwest of Bharatpur Airport. The aircraft ran across some ditches, which caused the nose gear to collapse. None of the 27 passengers and 4 crews were injured.

Chaurjahari Airport; The airport is a domestic airport which serves Chaurjahari, a town in the Rukum district of the Rapti zone. It is located at the edge of Chaurjhari municipality. The airport is located at an elevation of 2,460 feet above the sea level. It has one runway of length 600 meters made up of Asphalt concrete with dimension of 600*30m. It has Nepal Airlines with destinations as Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.
Dang Airport; This airport is also known as Tribhuwanangar Airport or Tarigaun Airport. It is a domestic airport serving in the western part of Dang, Deukuri district of Rapti zone. The airport is at the distance of 23 KM west of Ghorahi, which is main city of Dang valley and 2 KM south of Tulsipur. The airport can handle aircraft of Nepalese Army air Service.

The airport is located at an elevation of 2,100 feet above the sea level. It has one runway of length 8 meters. It comprises of Sita airlines with destinations Kathmandu and Nepalgunj.

Dhangadhi Airport; Dhangadhi Airport is a domestic airport which serves Dhangadhi which is the district headquarter of the Kailali District of Seti Zone. It is located in the Attariya Municipality Ward no.11 which is at the distance of 3 km from Dhangadhi city and 10 km from Attariya Chowk. This airport is also upgraded to an international airport, being Nepal’s fourth international airport.

The airport resides at an elevation of 210 metres above mean sea level. It has one runway of length 1,800 Metres. This airport has been extended recently and black topped in order to accommodate larger aircraft. It is Nepal’s second largest domestic airport after Tribhuwan International Airport.

Dolpa Airport; Dolpa airport is situated in Biggest district of Nepal, Dolpa which serves for Dolpa. The airport is located at an elevation of 8,200 feet above the sea level. It has one runway of length 2,175 feet with a surface measuring 663 by 30 meters.

Airlines and their Destinations

Nepal Airlines; Nepalgunj
Tara Airlines; Surkhet, Nepalgunj

Darchula Airport; This airport is domestic airport which is situated in Darchula District. It is also known as Gokuleshwor Airport. It’s runway is unpaved with one runway of length 1900 feet.
Doti Airport; It is situated in Doti district. It is domestic airport. It has only one runway of 1400 feet length.
Gorkha Airport; This airport is located in Gorkha district serving for Gorkha. It is a domestic airport having one unpaved runway of 3600 feet in length.

Janakpur Airport; The airport is situated in janakpur, a beautiful city of Mithila region and headquarter of Dhanusha district serving for same city.

The airport is located at the elevation of 256 feet above sea level. It has only one run way of length 3,300 feet made up of Asphalt which measures 1,300 by 30 meters. The airport can handle aircraft from the Nepalese Army air Service. Recently, a new airport has been made to handle the passengers from Janakpur airport.

Airlines with their Destinations

Buddha Air; Daily two flights for Kathmandu
Yeti Airlines; For Kathmandu

Jomsom Airport; Jomsom airport is the domestic airport situated on the bank of the Kali Gandaki River. This airport serves for Jomsom, a town of the Mustang District. This airport serves as the gateway to the Mustang District that includes Jomsom, Tangbe, Kagbeni and Lo Manthang, and to Muktinath Temple. Muktinath temple is a popular pilgrimage for Nepalese and Indians. The airport also can handle aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air Service.

The airport is located at an elevation of 8,976 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway paved with asphalt which measures 2,424 by 66 feet. There is a down slope of 1.75% up to about 418 feet from the threshold of runway. This airport provides VHF Frequency under Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS). Refuelling facilities aren’t available. There is also a terminal building for passengers.

In good weather, there are daily flights between Pokhara and Jomsom during daylight hours. Although the flying distance is short and flight takes a time of just 20 minutes. The very high mountains between Pokhara and Jomsom require planes to fly through the Kali Gandaki River gorge with major peaks that include Dhaulagiri of height 8,167 m and Tukuche of height 6,920 m on the west and Nilgiri mountain of height 6,940 m on the centre and Annapurna mountain of height 8,091 m on the east. Jomsom airport is situated at the head of the gorge with high terrain surrounding the airport.

In Jomsom, cloud may occur while it is fine in Pokhara, while it is cloudy in Pokhara it is fine in Jomsom, and heat from the sun in the Mustang District causes strong winds in the Kali Gandaki River gorge and atJomsom after early morning. Changing visibility, cloud cover and high winds, often cause to delay the flights or closing of airport. The airport is available throughout the year but the visibility is not sufficient for visual flight rules (VFR).

The wind often prevents airport operation after mid day. It disturbs and prevents the airlines schedule flights to Jomsom for the early morning when wind speeds are low. Aircrafts are turned around rapidly as possible at Pokhara and Jomsom in order to complete as many flights as possible before wind speeds at Jomsom become too high or too low.

Airlines with their Destinations

Nepal Airlines; Pokhara
Gorkha Airlines; Pokhara
Sita Airlines; Kathmandu, Pokhara
Simrik Airlines; Pokhara
Tara Airlines; Pokhara

Incidents and Accidents;

On 27^th February 1970, Nepalese Royal Flight de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed while taking off. Three passengers and one crew Member were survived but one passenger was killed. On 8 November 1993, a aircraft of Nepal Airways scheduled passenger flight overran the runway and fell into the river. No passengers were killed but the plane was written off.
On 21^st August 1998, a, air craft of Lumbini Airways leased from the Air Transport Support Centre on a late morning scheduled flight with passengers from Jomsom to Pokhara stucked Mount Annapurna near Ghorepani at the level of 7000 ft. All 18 occupants,15 passengers and 3 crews were killed and the plane was damaged beyond repair.
On 22^nd August 2002, on a mid morning, a Shangri-La Air de Havilland

Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter scheduled passenger flight from Jomsom to Pokhara got stuck on a hill of 5 km Southeast of Pokhara. The hill was covered completely by cloud following three days of continuous rain. All 18 occupants, 15 passengers and 3 crew members were killed and the plane got damaged beyond repair.

On 14^th May 2012, Agni Air Flight CHT Dornier 228 scheduled passenger flight from Pokhara to Jomsom, got crashed into the side of a hill at the distance of 5 km southwest of Jomsom Airport. Among 21 passengers, 15 passengers were killed. The flight attendant was survived and the aircraft was damaged beyond the repair.
On 16^th May 2013, Nepal Airlines Flight 555 de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, a scheduled passenger flight from Pokhara to Jomsom was crashed while landing and fell onto the bank of River Kali Gandaki River. It was carrying 18 adult passengers, one infant and three crew members. The plane was Three passengers, two crew and were injured serious while six passengers and one crew member had minor injuries. Eight of the passengers were Japanese tourists while the three crew Members and remaining passengers was Nepali.
On 24^th February 2016, Tara Air Flight 193, a Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter scheduled domestic passenger flight with 23 passengers departing from Pokhara to Jomsom. The air craft went missing eight minutes after takeoff. The missing aircraft was searched by three helicopters which were dispatched immediately but the helicopters were hampered by bad weather. The wreckage and several charred bodies were found after several hours. No passengers were survived. The crash was the seventh-deadliest aircraft crash in Nepal, and the fourth-deadliest accident in world involving a DHC-6. It was found that while flying under visual flight rules (VFR), the flight had deviated to the left, it was climbed to 12,000 feet to avoid clouds before beginning a descent to 10,000 feet after entering cloud. The captain initiated another climb one minute before impact shortly. The plane struck a mountainside at 10,700 feet while flying in cloud with little visibility and came to a rest at 10,982 feet near Dana village of Myagdi

22. Jumla Airport; Jumla airport is a domestic airport which serves for Jumla, the capital of the Jumla District. The airport is capable in handling aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air Service. The airport is located at an elevation of 7,700 feet above mean sea Level. It has one runway paved of length of 1,742 feet which measures 531 by 25 metres.

Airlines with their destinations

Nepal Airlines ; Nepalgunj
Tara Air ; Nepalgunj

Various incidents and accidents are occurred in Jumla airport. The events are;

On 5^th July 1992 – An aircraft named RNA De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 (9N-ABB) lost control on direction while taking off from Jumla Airport on a flight to Surkhet. The aircraft ran off the runway and struck the perimeter fence of an airport. There were no passengers in an aircraft. In accident, none of the three crew were injured on board.
On 18^th January 1999 – An aircraft, Necon Air Cessna 208 Caravan I (9N-ADA) climbed to height of 450 feet steeply after takeoff from Jumla Airport, but it was stalled and crashed and caught fire. The fire couldn’t be extinguished due to unavailability of fire fighting equipment at the airport. Out of 2 crew members and 10 passengers, 1 crew member and 4 passengers were killed. It has been reported that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s failure to put the aircraft in take off configuration.
On 21^st June 2006 – A Yeti Airlines De Havilland Canada DHC-6 a Twin Otter Series 300 which make take off a flight from Surkhet and while approaching near to Jumla Airport, the pilot apparently was deciding to go around But the aircraft crashed into a hillside on the eastern side of the airport. All three crew and six passengers were killed in the accident.

Kamalbazaar is already finished, although it isn’t permitted to fly there for the moment. Kalikot and Dolpa (Masinechaur) will supposedly be completed next year (2013), while Khijichandeshwari and Lamjung will need at least five years to start operation, as the project has just started. Gulmi is the sixth planned airport. Another five more airports have been proposed by CAAN to be built in Nepal: Dharan, New Pokhara, Ilam, Second International Airport and Udayapur.

Kamal Bazar Airport; The airport is located in kamal bazaar in Achham District.
Langtang Airport; The airport is located in langtang region of Rasuwa district.
Mahendranagar Airport; Mahendranagar airport is a domestic airport serving Mahendranagar, which is a city in the Kanchanpur district of the Mahakali zone. The airport is capable in handling aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air Service.

The airport is located at an elevation of 650 feet above mean sea level. It consists of one runway of length 2,900 ft.

Man Maya Airport; Man Maya airport is a domestic airport located near Diktel which is the headquarters of Khotang District. The airport is also known as Khanidanda airport.

The airport resides at an elevation of 4,456 feet above the mean sea level. The airport consists of long dirt runway of length 590 meters which obstruct in the operations during the rainy season. The runway consists of Asphalt surface which was made at the cost of Rs. 70 million in July 2015. The airlines such as Tara Air and Simrik Airlines announced the plans to resume its services to the airport.

Manang Airport; Manang Airport is an airport serving Manang valley which is situated in the Manang district. The airport is situated at the distance of 2,5 kilometer

east of Manang town. The airport is located at an elevation of 11,000 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway of length 610 meters (2,001 ft). The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has expanded the airport and has done improvemental and developmental work at Manang Air field. It is hoped that the improvement of airport will increase the frequency of air flight services to and from the airport.

Airlines and their Destinations

Tara Airlines; Pokhara and Kathmandu
Nepal Airlines; Pokhara

26. Meghauli Airport; Meghauli Airport is a domestic airport which serves Meghauli, a village in the Chitwan district of the Narayani zone.

The airport is located at an elevation of 600 feet (183 m) above sea level. It consists of one runway of length 1,085 meters (3,560 feet). Tara Airlines is providing it’s services with the destination as Kathmandu.

Phalpu Airport; Phalpu airport is siruated in the Phaplu town of Solukhumbu district serves for same place.

The airport is located at an elevation of 7,918 feet (2,413 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway of length 671 metres (2,201 ft). The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has been carrying out all the reconstruction and improvement work of Phaplu terminal building.

Airlines and Destinations;

Nepal Airlines ; Kathmandu, Lukla
Tara Airlines; Kathmandu
Goma Airlines; Kathmandu

Rajbiraj Airport; The airport is situated in Rajbiraj city of Eastern development region. The airport had flights connected with Kathmandu and other airports of Nepal. The go vernment of Nepal has planned to convert the airport to an international airport. In this present time, the airport is not functional.
Ramechaap Airport; The airport is a domestic airport located in the Tama River valley at Manthali, of the Ramechhap District.

The airport is located at an elevation of 1,555 feet (474 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway of length 518 metres (1,699 ft). Tara Airlines is providing it’s services with destination Kathmandu.

Rumjatar Airport; Rumjatar airport is a domestic airport which serves for Rumjatar, a village in the Okhaldhunga district of the Sagarmatha zone.

The airport is located at an elevation of 4,500 feet (1,372 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway of length 585 metres (1,919 ft).

Airlines and Destinations

Tara Airlines; Kathmandu
Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu, Lukla

30. Sanphebagar Airport ; Sanphebagar airport is a domestic airport situated in Sanphebagar place of the Achham District of the Seti The airport is not maintained actively.

The airport resides at an elevation of 1,955 feet ( 427 meters). It has one runway of unpaved surface which is 1,700 feet ( 530 meters) in length.

Simara Airport; Simara airport is a domestic airport which serves Pipara Simara of eastern development region. It is the closest airport to Birgunj. Birgunj is the third biggest city of Nepal. The airport is operated by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal which is also the owner of the airport. It was was established on July 4, 1958. The airport can handle aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air Service.

The airport resides at an elevation of 450 feet ( 137 meters). It has one runway paved by Asphalt which is 3,911 feet ( 1,192 meters) in length.

Airlines and Destinations;

Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu
Buddha Airlines; Kathmandu

Simikot Airport; Simikot airport is a domestic airport which serves the simikot town of Humla district of Karnali zone.

The airport is located at an elevation of 9,246 ft (2,818 m) above mean sea level. It consists of one runway of length 549 m (1,801 feet). The runway has recently been

Improved by surfacing with Asphalt and is extended with more infrastructures being built. The parking facilities and terminals also have some improvement due to impact of construction. Pilgrims and Trekkers destined for Mount kailash and Lake Manasarovar in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, fly to Simikot and progressively move forward to the international border at Hilsa onfoot or by helicopter.

Airlines and Destinations;

Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu
Goma Airlines; Kathmandu
Tara Airlines; Kathmandu

On 23^rd June 2011, Aircraft of Tara Airlines was extensively damaged in a heavy landing and runway damage. The aircraft was operating a cargo flight from

Nepalgunj Airport.

Surkhet Airport; Surkhet airport is a domestic airport situated in surkhet district. The airport is one of the hub airports in Mid-Western Nepal. Surkhet Airport is at the distance of 5 km from the city of Birendranagar. Sometimes, the airport is also referred as Birendranagar Airport. The airport can handle the aircraft from the Nepalese

Army Air Service.

The airport resides at an elevation of 236 feet ( 72 meters). It has one runway with surface paved with asphalt which is 3,937 feet ( 1,200 meters) in length. Goma Airlines is providing it’s services with destination places like Bajhang, Bajura, Chaurjahari, Dolpa, Jumla, Nepalgunj, Simikot and Talcha.

Various in incidents and accidents were took place in the airport. Some events are;

On 17^th July 2002 – A Skyline Airways De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, takeoff the flight from Jumla to Surkhet. Due to bad weather, the aircraft was crashed into trees on the Gargare Danda hill after some 18 minutes of take-off. The aircraft was crashed at 10 km north of Surkhet, at an altitude of about 6500 feet. All two passengers and two crew members were killed.
On 26^th May 2010, an aircraft of Tara Airlines had taken off from Surkhet Airport and heads for Talcha Airport in Rara National Park. There were18 passengers and 3 crew on board. After take off the cabin door was opened suddenly for five minutes. At 10 am, the aircraft made an emergency landing at Surkhet. Soon, the cabin attendant managed to lock the door.

Syangboche Airport; The airport is a domestic airport which serves for the village of Namche Bazaar, in Solukhumbu district. The airport resides at an elevation of 12,402 feet ( 3,780 meters). It has unpaved runway of 1,312 feet (400 meters) in length. The airport is the closest airport to Mount Everest and Everest Base Camp. It is not often used by people going to these places or any other place significantly higher than Syangboche’s (3780 meter elevation). Tourists who are planing to visit the nearby hotel and stay there not going higher or those who plan only to reach Namche Bazaar use this airstrip.

The airstrip is not licensed for commercial operations. The airport has only few facilities. There are no scheduled services. Most of the aircrafts landing and departing at Syangboche airport are helicopters and STOL aircraft by making chartered flights from Kathmandu or Lukla. The flight from Lukla to Syangboche by helicopter takes the time between 7 and 11 minutes. Lukla is the farthest point aided by scheduled flights on the way to Mount Everest.

Helicopters fly higher up to Everest Base Camp but it only for pick up exhausted or injured mountaineers or dropping derogatory supplies. Syangboche is the highest point, advisable to reach by aircraft, without altitude acclimatization. It is common for people visiting Syangboche to be out of breath, due to the the high altitude.

Talcha Airport; Talcha airport is the domestic airport situated in Rara National Park in the Mugu District. The airport serves for Rara National Park. It has one gravel runway. Two airlines, Nepal airlines and Tara airlines provides services to a destination place Nepalgunj.

Incidents and Accidents

On 21^st November 2011, an aircraft, Cessna 208B Grand Caravan of Makalu Airlines Caravan took off from Surkhet Airport heading to Talcha Airport. While landing at Talcha airport, the aircraft skidded off the runway and hit a rock, by which the front part of the aircraft got damage. In the accident, four of the 11 occupants were injured.

Taplejung Airport; Taplejung airport is a domestic airport situated in Taplejung, in the Taplejung district of the Mechi zone. It is also informally known as Suketar Airport. Government of Nepal is the owner of the airport.

Airlines and Destinations

Nepal Airlines; Biratnagar
Tara Airlines; Kathmandu

Tenzing- Hillary Airport; The airport is a small airport situated in the town of Lukla in Khumbu of Solukhumbu district. The airport is also known as Lukla Airport.

The airport is located at an elevation of 9,334 feet which is equivalent to 2,845 meters. It has one runway surfaced by Asphalt which is 1,729 feet ( 527 meters) in length. The runway is accessible only to helicopters and short-take off-and-landing aircrafts. The airport is not only used for flights of passengers, but it is also used for transporting most of the building material and cargo to the town. Most of the roofs on the houses and their resource at Lukla have to be transported by aircraft. A single runway must be used by arriving and departing aircraft. There is high terrain beyond the northern end of the runway, there is high terrian and at the southern end of the runway, there is a steeply angled drop.

The airport was renamed in January 2008 on the honor of the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, also to mark their efforts for the construction of this airport. Most people start the climb to Mount Everest Base Camp through lukla.

So, the airport is popular. In good weather, there are daily flights between Lukla and Kathmandu during daylight hours. Although the flying distance is short, rain commonly occurs in Lukla which may obstruct the flight operations. Cloud cover, high winds and changing visibility often causes the flights delayed or the closure of airport. The airport consists of chain link fence. As well, the airport is patrolled by the Nepali armed police or civil police around the clock.

Airlines and Destinations;

Goma Airlines ; Kathmandu
Nepal Airlines; Kathmandu, Phaplu, Rumjatar
Simrik Airlines; Kathmandu
Tara Airlines; Kathmandu
Sita Airlines; Kathmandu

Incidents and Accidents;

On 15^th October 1973, an aircraft, DHC-6 Twin

Otter 300 of Nepal Airlines was damaged beyond repair on landing. The three crew members and three passengers were not hurt.

On 9^th June 1991, an aircraft, DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 of Nepal Airlines flight from Kathmandu, crashed at the airport during landing by following an unstabilized approach in bad weather. The three crew members and fourteen passengers were escaped from the injuries.
On 26^th September 1992, an aircraft, Harbin Yunshuji Y-12-II of Nepal Airlines stumbled during takeoff and the air craft was damaged beyond repair. Two crew memebers and twelve passengers were survived in the accident.
On 25^th May 2004, an aircraft of Yeti Airlines from Kathmandu crashed into Lamjura Hill in heavy clouds while on approaching to the airport. There were no passengers on board. But all three crew members were killed. The Nepalese accident investigation committee concluded that the captain provided imprecise information about his position to the Area Control Centre.
On 1^st October 2004, on landing at the airport, an aircraft, Dornier Do 228 of Sita airlines got a collapse of its nose gear and it got slid along the runway. The airport was closed for two days.
On 30 June 2005, an aircraft of Gorkha Airlines slided off the runway while attempting to landing. The nine passengers and three crew members were suffered from minor injuries. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and irrecoverable after the accident.
On 8^th October 2008, an aircraft, DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 of yeti airlines crashed on landing due to bad weather. Due to crash, it caught fire. In the accident, eighteen passengers and1 crew member were killed. The captain of the aircraft was the only survived.
On 12^th October 2010, an aircraft, Dornier Do 228 of Sita airlines lost control on braking and it got struck in the wall-end of the runway during landing. As, the nose of aircraft was damaged but all passengers and crew escaped injury.
On 26^th September 2013, an Air Dynasty helicopter crashed due to the touching of the barbed wire of the compound wall by rear rotor at the airport. All three passengers and the captain were survived.
On 27^th May 2017, A Summit Air performed a freight flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. There were 3 crew members in the aircraft. On final approach to Lukla’s runway, due to poor visibility, the aircraft strucked a tree on the runway and it contacted ground about 3 meters/10 feet below the runway level. The aircraft slid down the slope at about 200 meters below the runway level. The captain was killed and after the eight hours in hospital, the first officer died. The third crew member was injured and he was relinquished to Kathmandu the following day after the weather had cleared.

Thamkharka Airport; The airport is situated in the Khotang district. The airport serves for the place, thamkharka. It resides at an elevation of 5,238 feet (579m). Nepal airlines is providing it’s services with destination place, Biratnagar.
Tikapur Airport; The airport is located in the kailali district of Seti Zone of western Nepal. It resides at an elevation of 522 feet (159m) above the mean sea level.

Extra information about the airport in Nepal

All the airports of the country are supposed to be operated under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), but only five of total 48 airport were ready for an airplane to take-off or land under Instrumental Flight Rules (IFR). In a country like Nepal, according to its landscape and associated meteorology, this rules cant be implemented in terms of real operational time whereas most of Nepali airports have frequently seasonal problems associated with wind, clouds, rain and mist which force the airport to delay for some hours or, even some days. Excluding, from these daily problems in airport, some airports of Nepal remain close during the complete and after monsoon season. Hence, they are said to be seasonal, and the number of such type of airport is 20.

From the report of AIP, 29 of the total airports are considered as STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) ones, which means, airports is in which the short runway length, elevation hinderance, location or obstacles in the departure or landing path make the difficult situation for the construction of a conventional airport. In most of the case, Nepal airports are STOL because they are located in the valley that is between high hills or even the mountains, and hence their runway is too short, as well their runway slope somewhere are too high and hence they need complicate procedures in order to operate at.

Only 14 of the total number of airports in the country have a paved runway, in present status while another 22 of them have grass surface and the remaining two are made of clay material.

In accordance to report of AIP, only 9 of the total 48 airports have Air Traffic Control, and most of them are equipped with Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS) of VHF Frequency. Eight of them are not equipped with any of these services and six of them are unmanned. With regard to their profits, none of the airports in the country are profitable, but some of them should be maintained since they act as a social means of transport and provide resource to the community.

The government also had classified 14 airports as social as well trying to provide some aids for private airlines and encourage them to provide their service in these routes, so that people living in those areas would not be completely isolated. These social airports are the following ones: Bajhang, Bajura, Phaplu, Salley, Simikot , Jumla, Lamidanda, Manang, Rumjatar, Bhojpur, Chaurijhari, Dolpa, Thamkharka and Tumlingtar. They are usually get served from the Regional Airport, but nowadays some of these routes are diverting or even disappearing along with the construction of new roads to those area.

Rest of the airports in the country are most belong to tourism important ones, as well they mainly profitable like Pokhara, Syangboche, Phaplu, Taplejung, Lukla, Manang, Jomson, Meghauli, Dolpa and Rara. Biratnagar Airport is the most profitable ones. In fact, this airport is the third Nepali biggest airport in terms of its passengers as Biratnagar is the largest business city in the country.

In previous sections it has been already mentioned that Tribhuvan International Airport is the unique and meet standard requirement of international airpot and is only one airport in Nepal with international routes, but CAAN is thinking of opening some others airports in major places to manage the international traffic. These plans are now directed to Bhairahawa and Pokhara and are under construction, but right now it will be for near regional destinations as per the lateral agreements with India which explain that flights to or from there will be treated like regional

ones. Pokhara is now processing on terminal building and it is also expected to link the city with Lucknow (India) in winter 2017-2018, and the Gautam Buddha Airport which is being used as a pilgrim airport for pilgrimage which are coming mainly from India to visit Lumbini, which is famous as Lord Buddha’s birth place.

Although Pokhara Airport is being redesigned, there is a undergoing project of a new airport in the city with international meet of the infractructure which can be the international airport in the near future, to substitute the first one. It will be also analyzed with the available source and information, however, it will need some years in order to start operation.

Apart from these plans of opening alternative international operation to those existing airports, Government of Nepal has decided to build another international airport some years ago in Kathmandu. This SIA (Second International Airport), for the moment it is only a assumed project, but

in case if it was built, it would affect considerably increase the air traffic and disturbance to the airports network organization.

List of Airports in Nepal : Both Domestic and International

S.N.	Name of Airports	Located District
1	Bhadrapur- Chandragadi	Jhapa
2	Biratnagar	Morang
3	Tumlingtar	Sankhuwasabha
4	Lamidanda	Khotang
5	Manmaya Khanidanda	Khotang
6	Tenjing- Hilari (Lukla)	Solukhumbu
7	Suketar	Solukhumbu
8	Bhojpur	Bhojpur
9	Rajbiraj	Saptari
10	Thamkharka	Khotang
11	Syangboche	Solukhumbu
12	Phaplu	Solukhumbu
13	Kangel	Solukhumbu
14	Rumjatar	Okhaldunga
15	Janakpur	Dhanusha
16	Jiri	Dolkha
17	Ramechhap	Ramechhap
18	Simara	Bara
19	Bharatpur	Chitwan
20	Meghauli	Chitwan
21	Tribhuwan International Airport	Katamandu
22	Pokhara	Kaski
23	Chame	Manang
24	Balewa	Baglung
25	Jomsom	Mustang
26	Rolpa	Rolpa
27	Langtang	Rasuwa
28	Palungtar	Gorkha
29	Gautam Buddha	Rupandehi
30	Dhorpatan	Baglung
31	Tulasipur	Dang
32	Chaurajhari	Rukum
33	Salle	Rukum
34	Rukumkot	Rukum
35	Nepalgunj	Banke
36	Surkhet	Surkhet
37	Juphal	Dolpa
38	Masinechaur	Dolpa
39	Dhangadi	Kailali
40	Tikapur	Kailali
41	Talchha	Mugu
42	Kalikot	Kalikot
43	Silgadi	Doti
44	Simikot	Humla
45	Bajhang	Bajhang
46	Sanfebagar	Achham
47	Kamalbajar	Achham
48	Bajura	Bajura
49	Gokuleswor	Darchula
50	Patan	Baitadi
51	Mahendranagar	Kanchanpur
52	Jumla	Jumla
53	Resunga	Gulmi
54	Phalgunand	Ilam
55	Shitaleswor	Lamjung