Simara Airport ( ne, सिमरा विमानस्थल) is a domestic airport located in Jitpur Simara serving

Bara District Bara District ( ne, बारा जिल्ला ) is one of the seventy–seven districts of Nepal, located in the western part of the Madhesh Province. The district is third richest district in Nepal after Kathmandu and Morang with 3.3% sh ...

, a district in

Madhesh Province Madhesh Province ( Nepali/ mai, मधेश प्रदेश) is a province of Nepal that was formed after the adoption of the Constitution of Nepal. It is Nepal's most populous province, and smallest province by area. It borders Province N ...

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 ...

. It also serves

Birgunj Birgunj ( ne, वीरगञ्ज) is a metropolitan city in Parsa District in Madhesh Province of southern Nepal. It lies south of the capital Kathmandu, attached in the north to Raxaul in the border of the Indian state of Bihar. As an entr ...

, Nepal's fifth biggest city.

History

The airport was established on 4 July 1958, although there is evidence that the airport existed in some form as early as 1946 and would therefore be the oldest airport in Nepal — this fact is, however, disputed. The airport is operated 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 ...

Facilities

The airport resides 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 ...

which is in length.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Access

The airport is located near

Tribhuvan Highway The Tribhuvan Highway () connects the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, with Birganj/ Raxaul on the Nepal-India border. NH 28 and NH 28A links Raxaul with Lucknow/Barauni and other locations in India. History Known informally as ...

Accidents and incidents

* 7 May 1946 - A

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

overran the runway upon touchdown at Simara Airport and was fully destroyed. There were no fatalities. This is considered to be the first aviation accident in the

History of Nepal The history of Nepal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia and East Asia. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multiracial, multicultural, multi-religious, and m ...

. * 30 August 1955 - A

Kalinga Airlines Kalinga Airlines was a private airline based in Calcutta, India. It was founded in 1947 by aviator and politician Biju Patnaik, who was also the airline's chief pilot. The airline was nationalised and merged into Indian Airlines in 1953. It res ...

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

lifted off prematurely at Simara Airport in order to avoid hitting someone crossing the runway. Two of the three crew members aboard were killed. * 25 December 1999 - A Skyline Airways De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 crashed 5 minutes after takeoff from Simara Airport on a flight to Kathmandu. All three crew and seven passengers were killed.

References

External links

* {{authority control Airports in Nepal 1958 establishments in Nepal