Thai Asia Air Resumes Flights to GBIA

Thai Asia Air has resumed flights on the Bangkok–Bhairahawa–Bangkok route from Sunday, October 26, reportedly after a gap of six months.

An Airbus A320 from Bangkok landed at Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) at 12:15 pm carrying 17 passengers, and departed for Bangkok at 1:15 pm with 162 passengers on board, according to GBIA information officer Binod Singh Rawat told the state-owned national news agency RSS.

The airline will operate two weekly flights—every Sunday and Wednesday—on this route.

The resumption of flights comes as the government intensifies efforts to attract international carriers to GBIA and Pokhara International Airport, both of which have struggled to secure regular operations despite heavy investment.

In August, the government endorsed a reform plan titled “Overall Improvement of the Civil Aviation Sector and Operational Plan for Gautam Buddha and Pokhara International Airports.” The plan includes waiving passenger service, tourism, and other international flight fees at these airports until mid-September 2026.

The Gautam Buddha International Airport, built with $37 million in loans and grants from the Asian Development Bank and $11 million loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development, was inaugurated on May 16, 2022. To encourage international flights, the government announced a 100% discount on various fees for airlines flying from the airport for one year. However, this initiative did not succeed in attracting regular international flights.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) - the state-owned airport operator and civil aviation regulator, the airport needs 10 international flights and 100 domestic flights to meet its daily operational cost. However, the airport is handling only a handful of international flights.

As the number is very low compared to the magnitude of investment, people have started questioning the rationale of the multi-million-dollar airport built using foreign loans.