January 14: The number of air passengers has increased at the Tribhuvan International Airport. According to the airport, a total of 86,91,443 passengers used the airport in 2023 for both domestic and international flights.

According to the airport, 45,41,137 passengers used this airport for international flights during last year, which is 30.18 percent more than the previous year.

The airport’s General Manager Pratap Babu Tiwari informed that this number is the highest ever in history of TIA.

In 2022, a total of 79,54,495 people used the airport services. According to the airport, the total passenger flow (domestic and international) has increased.

Before the onset of coronavirus, altogether 71,90,912 passengers used this airport in 2018 and 73,27,031 passengers used this airport in 2019.

In 2023, the number of international flights also increased to 31,460 which is 29.40 percent more compared to the previous year.

During the review period, the airport recorded cargo movement of 22,946 tons, which is more than that of the previous year by 13.98 percent.

The number of domestic air travelers stood at 41,50,326 in the review  year, which is 7.07 percent less than the previous year. During this period, 96,989 domestic flights took place from the airport. The number of flights also decreased by 10.87 percent compared to last year.

General Manager Tiwari said that inland cargo arrivals increased by 10.36 percent to 3,426,861 tons compared to last year. According to him, currently nine airline companies and 12 helicopter companies are operating domestically at Tribhuvan International Airport, while 30 airlines including 3 Nepali airlines are serving 31 destinations in 16 countries.

Nepal has bilateral air service agreements with 41 countries.