Surkhet Airport , also known as Birendranagar Airport is a
domestic airport located in
Birendranagar
Birendranagar ( ne, वीरेन्द्रनगर) officially Birendranagar Municipality is a city in Surkhet District in Karnali Province of Nepal.
It is the district headquarter of Surkhet District and also the capital city of Karnali ...
serving
Surkhet District
Surkhet District ( ne, सुर्खेत जिल्ला, ) is a district in Karnali Province of mid-western Nepal. Surkhet is the one of the ten Districts of Nepal, districts of Karnali located about west of the national capital Kathmandu ...
, a district in
Karnali Province
Karnali Province ( ne, कर्णाली प्रदेश) is one of the seven federal provinces of Nepal formed by the new constitution which was adopted on 20 September 2015. The total area of the province is covering 18.97% of the cou ...
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 ...
. 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 ...
considers it an important hub for cargo transport into remote Western areas of Nepal,
however this role is declining due to increasing road connectivity.
History
The airport was established in October 1966,
however major connections to
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
were only established with services from
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 ...
in 2018. Previously this airport was only used by
Nepalese Army Air Service
The Nepalese Army Air Service ( ne, नेपाली सैनिक विमान सेवा, Nēpālī sainika vimāna sēvā) is the army aviation branch of the Nepali Army, also known as the Nepal Army Air Wing (formerly Royal Nepalese ...
and local services.
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 asphalt runway which is in length.
There are plans to extend the runway.
Airlines and destinations
Accidents and incidents
*17 July 2002 - A
Skyline Airways De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 (9N-AGF) left
Jumla on a flight to
Surkhet. Some 18 minutes after take-off and 10 km north of Surkhet, at an altitude of about 6500 feet, the aircraft crashed into trees on the Gargare Danda hill in bad weather. All two crew and two passengers were killed.
*On 26 May 2010 a
Tara Air
Tara Air Pvt. Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines. Tara Air was formed in 2009 using aircraft from the Yeti Airlines fleet and is based at Tribhuvan International Airport, with a secondary h ...
DHC-6 Twin Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...
had taken off from Surkhet Airport heading for
Talcha Airport
Rara Airport , also known as Talcha Airport, is a domestic airport located in Chhayanath Rara serving Rara National Park in Karnali Province in Nepal.
History
The airport was constructed in 1975 but was only blacktopped in 2015.
Airlines and de ...
in
Rara National Park
Rara National Park is a protected area in the Himalayas of Nepal and was established in 1976. Covering an area of in the Mugu and Jumla districts, it is the country's smallest national park. Its main feature is Rara Lake at an altitude of . Th ...
, with 18 passengers and 3 crew on board. At 10 am, the aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Surkhet after its cabin door suddenly opened five minutes after take-off. Tara Airlines officials said that the cabin attendant managed to lock the door immediately after it opened.
/ref>
References
See also
List of airports in Nepal
This is a list of airports in Nepal, sorted by location.
The country's three international airports and the hub of air services in the country are Tribhuvan International Airport, which serves the nation's capital and the country's largest metr ...
{{authority control
Airports in Nepal
Buildings and structures in Surkhet District
1966 establishments in Nepal
Buildings and structures in Karnali Province