October 11: There are 52 airports in Nepal, including international airports. However, not all of them are operational. There are seven airports with blacktopped runways which are not in operation at the moment.

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal’s Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula informed New Business Age that it is possible for airplanes to take off and land at those airports. However, they are not operational because there is no flight schedule to those remote places.

If the airports runways that are yet to be blacktopped are also considered, a total of 19 airports are currently not in operation.

Out of the 52 airports in Nepal, only 33 are currently in operation.

Spokesperson Niraula says that the country does not have enough aircraft to operate flights to the remote areas.

“There aren’t any planes to fly to the remote areas. On top of it, new alternatives have emerged to those airports,” said Niraula.

“There were no roads in the past. People were highly dependent on flights to transport goods and sick patients. But many of those places are now accessible through road,” added Niraula.

Most of the airports were established with the motive to transport essential food stuffs and medicines to the remote areas. However, the airports which once served as the fastest alternative of transportation have been gradually replaced by vehicles these days with the expansion of road network.

Air transport is expensive compared to travelling by road and therefore the general public opted for vehicles once the remote areas had access to road. According to the Department of Roads, the road network across Nepal spans  over 100,000 kilometers which includes national highways and other roads.

Even the remote places such as Humla and Dolpa now have access to road.

It is said that the airports in Baglung, Dolpa and Jiri were built especially to transport goods.

CAAN also insists that such airports are hardly used these days also because there is shortage of aircraft that can fly to remote areas.

CAAN however says that the airports with blacktopped runways can be operated anytime.

Those airports which are not in operation include the airports of Baglung, Chaurjhari (Rukum), Darchula, Dhorpatan, Palungtar (Gorkha), Resunga (Gulmi), Jiri, Kangeldanda (Solukhumbu), Khiji Chandeshwari (Okhaldhunga), Langtang, Lammidanda (Khotang), Mahendranagar, Manang, Masinechaur (Dolpa), Syangboche (Solukhumbu), Rumjatar (Okhaldhunga) and Tiakpur.

Among them, the airports of Rumjatar, Masinechaur, Baglung, Chaurjhari, Resunga, Lamidanda and Manang are blacktopped.