Nepal has sought India’s assistance to conduct a flight inspection of the newly installed navigation and communication infrastructure at its newly built Bhairahawa international airport.  

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had formally written to the Airport Authority of India for flight calibration or flight test through a government-to-government deal, a report in The Kathmandu Post newspaper said.

Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa in south-central Nepal will be the country’s second international airport and is at the final stages of completion. The commercial operations are likely to be started by next year. 

A Thai company that was given the contract for the works has communicated its inability to conduct tests until the Covid situation improves in Nepal.

Significantly, Nepal has also written to the regulators in the US and South Korea. However, only New Delhi responded positively.

Under the proposed deal, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will not only do the flight test of Bhairahawa airport but also the test of navigation and communication equipment at Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, Simra, and Biratnagar airports, which needs to be done annually.

“If the government-to-government deal is signed, the testing of the equipment will begin after the monsoon or before the Dashain festival in mid-October,” Pokhrel was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post.

(SAM)