SANGAM

Buddha’s planned Lucknow service likely to be delayed

SANGAM PRASAIN

FEB 09 - Buddha Air's plans to operate Pokhara-Lucknow flights are likely to be delayed by a couple of months as upgrading work at Pokhara airport has been progressing slowly.

On Nov. 18, a Buddha official had said that they would begin service from March 1. Birendra Basnet, managing director of Buddha Air on the date said that it would be using an ATR 42 for the Lucknow flight initially.

However, Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) said that the process of upgrading the airport as a regional-international airport would take some time.

"It may take time to the airline to start its regional-international flights," said Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.

According to him, the Pokhara airport needs to upgrade its facilities as per the international standards. "There needs to be an immigration office, quarantine, security among other human and physical infrastructure to be set up to meet the international airport standards," he said.

This process can take some couple of months. Bhattarai said that the ministry is coordinating with Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) in this regard.

Rupesh Joshi, marketing manager of Buddha Air said that they were optimistic to get approval for the cross-border flights within a week. "After getting approval we will apply for the airline schedule in the said destination," he said.

But, Joshi also is not sure on their targeted date scheduled for March. 1. "It may take some time," he said.

T.R. Manandhar, deputy director, Air Transportation and Regulation Department, CAAN, said that the MoTCA was handling over the issue. "We have been coordinating with the ministry in this regard and will make our move as per its direction," he said.

He said that they had not received the application for flight scheduled. "As we receive the airline flight schedule we will prepare the required facilities to the airline," he said.

The new air service agreement (ASA) between Nepal-India allows airlines from both countries to offer 30,000 seats per week to and from Nepal to five other cities and 21 other destinations in India.

The destination includes Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi in Nepal; and Varanasi, Patna, Gaya and Lucknow in India..

Earlier, political parties and entrepreneurs of Pokhara had formed a committee to lobby the government to expand the infrastructure at Pokhara airport to allow it to handle flights to Lucknow.

A meeting of political parties, tourism entrepreneurs and the local administration had formed a nine-member committee. The committee has been urging the government not to delay the policy-level decisions and expansion of airport infrastructure. International flights from Pokhara have become a concern of the entire western region as it would help Pokhara to become a tourist hub.

Tourism entrepreneurs are hopeful that international flight from Pokhara would not only benefit Indian tourists but Nepalis too. Pokhara airport presently has a 4700-foot-long runway and handles 80-100 flights daily.

Similarly, Buddha Air is setting its sights on other major cities in India and Bhutan.

The carrier has forwarded its business plan to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation in this regard.