Pokhara Airport

Pokhara Airport
पोखरा विमानस्थल
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)
Serves Pokhara, Nepal
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 2,712 ft / 827 m
Coordinates Coordinates: 28°12′03″N 083°58′55″E / 28.20083°N 83.98194°E / 28.20083; 83.98194
Map
PKR
Location of airport in Nepal
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 1,433 4,701 Asphalt
Sources: CAAN [1] and DAFIF [2][3]
A Buddha Air flight in front of the airport's terminal

Pokhara Airport (IATA: PKR, ICAO: VNPK), is a regional airport serving Pokhara in Nepal. The airport was established on 4 July 1958 and is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. It offers regular connections to Kathmandu and Jomsom; and seasonal connections to Manang. In 2011 Buddha Air, a Nepali private airline, began international flights from Pokhara to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India,[4] and has announced plans to fly to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in the future.[5]

The apron of the airport is relatively small and can only handle 8 propeller planes at a time. Pokhara Airport is a diversion airport for the country's main airport in Kathmandu in times of problems such as fog. Due to a short runway and crowded apron, flights must often be re-diverted to third airports with even shorter runways.[6] Following a new agreement on air travel between India and Nepal,[7] Pokhara is to be the site of Nepal's second international airport, Pokhara International Airport.[8]

The airport is capable of handling aircraft from the Nepalese Army Air Service.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Buddha Air Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Kathmandu,[9] Nepalgunj (begins 5 October 2018)[10]
Nepal Airlines Kathmandu[11]
Sita Air Jomsom, Kathmandu[12]
Simrik Airlines Kathmandu[13]
Tara Air Jomsom[14]
Yeti Airlines Kathmandu[15]

Buddha Air also provides mountain sightseeing flights or Annapurna sightseeing flights out of Pokhara Airport. They usually depart in the early morning hours and return to the airport one hour later.[16]

Incidents and accidents

  • On 6 November 1997, A Necon Air Avro 748-100 (9N-ACM), after a flight from Kathmandu, suffered a hydraulic system failure after landing at Pokhara Airport and ran off the runway. The pilot steered the plane back on the runway after 100 metres (330 ft), but it ran onto the ramp and struck another Avro 748 (9N-ACW) of Nepal Airlines), which was parked engineless. There were no fatalities among the 44 passengers and 4 crew.[17]
  • On 22 August 2002, a Shangri-La Air Twin Otter aircraft, on a flight from Jomsom to Pokhara, crashed into a hill that was under complete cloud cover following 3 days of continuous rain. All 3 crew and 15 passengers were killed.[18]
  • On 16 February 2014, Nepal Airlines Flight 183 crashed shortly after taking off for a flight Pokhara to Jumla, in the country’s far west. The crash in bad weather killed all 18 on board.[19]

See also

List of airports in Nepal

References

  1. ↑ Pokhara Airport Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, accessed 4 March 2011
  2. ↑ Airport information for VNPK at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  3. ↑ Airport information for PKR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  4. ↑ "Buddha Air Lucknow flight" Archived 19 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine., buddhaair.com, accessed 28 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Buddha Air plans to start Pokhara-New Delhi flight", "Tour Nepal", accessed 28 September 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=71653
  7. ↑ "International Pokhara: Buddha Air eyes Indian tourism and pilgrim market", Nepali Times issue #274, 30 October 2010, accessed 4 March 2011.
  8. ↑ Lin, Ziyu. "With new airport, Pokhara waits for takeoff - Nation - Nepali Times". archive.nepalitimes.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Domestic Schedule". Buddha Air. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "New Delhi-Nepalgunj flight: Buddha Air's plan to link KEP-DEL elates locals". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "Domestic Flight Schedule". Nepal Airlines. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  12. ↑ "Flight Schedule". Sita Air. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "Flight Schedule". Simrik Airlines. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  14. ↑ "Flight Schedule". Tara Air. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Scheduled flights". Yeti Airlines. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  16. ↑ "Pokhara Mountain Flight". Buddha Air. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  17. ↑ Aviation Safety Network retrieved 18 November 2006
  18. ↑ Aviation Safety Network retrieved 19 November 2006
  19. ↑ Adhikari, Deepak (18 February 2014). "Nepal plane crash in bad weather killed all 18 on board". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
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