Gautam Buddha International Airport

Gautam Buddha International Airport (IATA: BWA, ICAO: VNBW), also known as Bhairahawa Airport is an airport serving Siddharthanagar, municipality in Rupandehi District in Province No. 5 in Nepal. It is currently being upgraded to international standards, constructions are scheduled to be completed by 2019 and is expected to commence operation in early 2020. The airport would become Nepal's second international airport.

Gautam Buddha International Airport

गौतम बुद्ध विमानस्थल
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Nepal
OperatorCivil Aviation Authority of Nepal
ServesSiddharthanagar, Nepal
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL358 ft / 109 m
Coordinates27°30′20″N 083°24′58″E
Map
BWA
Location of airport in Nepal
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
10/28 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

History

Gautam Buddha International Airport was opened in 1958 and is since operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.[3] In 1985, the airport was one of the targets of the Nepal Bombings.[4][5]

Expansion

In 2015, constructions began to turn the airport into an international airport becoming Nepal's second international airport to relief pressure currently sustained by the congested Tribhuvan International Airport. It is planned to have a 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) runway and sixteen international parking bays.[6] Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) will have take-off and landing facilities for large aircraft such as Airbus A340 and Boeing 777.The project is financed by a loan and grant aid from the Asian Development Bank. The contract to upgrade the airport was awarded to the Chinese company Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group in October 2014.[7] The construction of the airport was set to be completed by the end of 2017 but the process was delayed for more than six months and the deadline of the completion was extended to 2019 due to the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 2015 Nepal blockade.[8] In July 2019, the project's deadline was extended and the expansion would be completed by December 2019.[9]

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of 358 feet (109 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 10/28 with an asphalt surface measuring 1,510 by 34 metres (4,954 ft × 112 ft).[1]

There are several hotels in the vicinity of Gautam Buddha Airport.

Airlines and destinations
Yeti Air's ATR 72-500 (9N-ALN) at Gautam Buddha Airport
AirlinesDestinationsRefs.
Buddha Air Kathmandu, Pokhara[10][11]
Nepal AirlinesKathmandu[12]
Saurya Airlines Kathmandu[13]
Shree Airlines Kathmandu[14]
Simrik Airlines Kathmandu[15]
Yeti Airlines Kathmandu, Pokhara[16]

See also

References
  1. Airport information for VNBW from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
  2. Airport information for Bhairawa, Nepal - Gautam Buddha International Airport (VNBW / BWA) at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  3. "Gautam Buddha International Airport" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  4. webindia123. Indian freedom fighters behind Nepal revolution?
  5. Dangol, Sanu Bhai. The Palace in Nepalese Politics: With Special Reference to the Politics of 1951 to 1990. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1999. pp. 128-129
  6. "Gautam Buddha Airport to have 16 parking bays". The Kathmandu Post. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  7. "Gautam Buddha International Airport Project: 2nd package of project to start in Feb". The Kathmandu Post. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  8. "Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport project becoming progressive". Aviation Nepal. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  9. "GBIA deadline extended till December". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  10. "Flights from Kathmandu to Bhairahawa". Buddha Air. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  11. "Flights from Pokhara to Bhairahawa". Buddha Air. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  12. "Domestic Schedule". Nepal Airlines. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  13. "Bhairahawa". Saurya Airlines. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  14. "Bahirahawa". Shree Airlines. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  15. "Fly directly from Pokhara to Lumbini - Nepflights". Nepflights.com. Archived from the original on 30 November 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  16. "Scheduled Flights". Yeti Airlines. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
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