Nepalgunj Airport is a
domestic airport serving
Nepalgunj
Nepalgunj (), also spelled Nepalganj, is a Sub-Metropolitan City in Banke District, Nepal. It lies on the Terai plains near the southern border with Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh, India. Nepalgunj is 153 kilometers south-west of Ghorahi a ...
in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. There are plans by the
Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN, ne, नेपाल नागरिक उड्डयन प्राधिकरण, translit=Nepāl Nāgarik Uḍḍayan Prādhikaraṇ) is an independent civil aviation regulator. It was establishe ...
to promote the airport to an international airport and establishing immigration, customs and quarantine facilities.
History
The airport has been in service since 1961. In land area it is the third largest airport in Nepal, after
Dhangadhi Airport
Dhangadhi Airport is a domestic airport located in Dhangadhi serving Kailali District, a district in Sudurpashchim Province in Nepal. Dhangadhi Airport is also a regional airport which serves the district of Sudurpashchim Province and Rara Airpo ...
. It also has the second greatest number of aircraft and passenger movements. After the introduction of
FK-100 jet aircraft, passenger movement at this airport increased by 13.39% in 2005 (up to November) against the figure in the year 2004.
In 2005,
Flying Dragon Airlines set up its operating base at the airport, however the airline ceased to operate one year later.
Future developments
Since 2018, the airport is being upgraded to serve as an
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
, as
Buddha Air
Buddha Air Pvt. Ltd ( ne, बुद्ध एयर) is an airline based in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, Nepal, near Patan. It operates domestic as well as international services within Nepal and India, serving mainly large towns and cities in Nep ...
is preparing to start direct flights to
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. There are plans to construct a new international terminal with separate customs facilities as well as extending the runway.
Facilities
The airport is at an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
of above
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. It has one
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
designated 08/26 with an
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
surface measuring .
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Passenger numbers
References
External links
Official site*
{{authority control
Airports in Nepal
Buildings and structures in Banke District