BUTWAL, Sept 17: Regular international flights have started from Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA), Bhairahawa.
Al Jazeera Airways, which was previously flying Nepal-Kuwait three days a week (on the Bhairawa-Kuwait sector), has started daily flights from Friday. Spokesman at Gautam Buddha International Airport, Subhash Jha said the Jazeera Airways flight arrived at Bhairahawa from Kuwait at 6AM on Friday and left for Kuwait around 7AM.
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Earlier, Jazeera made its first flight from Bhairahawa to Kuwait on May 16. Jazeera, which has been flying three days a week since then, has started daily flights from Friday. Jha said that the number of Nepali people going for foreign employment is significantly higher and Jazeera started regular flights after passengers started choosing Bhairahawa Airport.
According to him, Jazeera operated regular flights to Kuwait and Qatar via Bhairahawa. “In order to make GBIA a commercial success at the initial stage, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has provided various concessions on international flights, thus reducing the fares for the passengers,” Jha said.
GBIA seems to be the preferred choice of passengers from Gandaki, Karnali and Sudurpaschim, especially Lumbini region. Jazeera, which launched its first flight on May 16, has so far completed 110 Bhairahawa-Kuwait flights. According to the airport, 6,587 passengers arrived in Bhairawa from Kuwait and 7,240 Nepali people arrived in Kuwait from Bhairawa.
Jazeera's officials in Nepal have also said that Jazeera has started regularizing the flights due to the increasing number of passengers and the commercial success of the flights. Next month, the flight will also start from Bhairahawa to Abu-Dhabi.
The Bhairahawa - Abu Dhabi flight will start from October 30. Meanwhile, Biz Airways, the Hungarian airline company, has received permission to operate three flights a week, according to spokesman Jha. He said that the airline company has already received permission to cut tickets.
