Pokhara Airport

Pokhara Airport (IATA: PKR, ICAO: VNPK), is a domestic airport serving Pokhara in Nepal. Following a new agreement on air travel between India and Nepal,[4] Pokhara Airport will be replaced by Nepal's second international airport, Pokhara International Airport in 2021.[5]

Pokhara Airport

पोखरा विमानस्थल
Pokhara Airport in 2019
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Nepal
OperatorCivil Aviation Authority of Nepal
ServesPokhara, Nepal
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL2,712 ft / 827 m
Coordinates
Map
Pokhara Airport
Location of airport in Nepal
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 1,433 4,701 Asphalt
Sources: CAAN [1] and DAFIF [2][3]
A Buddha Air flight in front of the airport's terminal

History

The airport was established on 4 July 1958 by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. It offers regular connections to Kathmandu and Jomsom; and seasonal connections to Manang. In 2011 Buddha Air, a Nepali private airline, began international flights from Pokhara to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India,[6] and has announced plans to fly to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in the future.[7]

Facilities
Yeti Airlines Jetstream 41 at Pokhara Airport in 2019

The apron of the airport is relatively small and can only handle eight propeller planes at a time. Pokhara Airport is a diversion airport for the country's main airport in Kathmandu in times of problems such as fog. Due to a short runway and crowded apron, flights must often be re-diverted to third airports with even shorter runways.[8]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinationsRefs.
Buddha Air Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Biratnagar,[9] Kathmandu[10]
Nepal Airlines Kathmandu[11]
Shree Airlines Kathmandu
Simrik Airlines Kathmandu[12]
Sita Air Jomsom, Kathmandu[13]
Summit Air Jomsom[14]
Tara Air Jomsom[15]
Yeti Airlines Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Kathmandu[16]

Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines provide mountain sightseeing flights or Annapurna sightseeing flights out of Pokhara Airport. They usually depart in the early morning hours and return to the airport one hour later.[17][18]

Several Ultralight aviation companies offer recreational and sightseeing flights from Pokhara Airport.[19]

Incidents and accidents
  • On 6 November 1997, a Necon Air Avro 748-100 (9N-ACM), after a flight from Kathmandu, suffered a hydraulic system failure after landing at Pokhara Airport and ran off the runway. The pilot steered the plane back on the runway after 100 metres (330 ft), but it ran onto the ramp and struck another Avro 748 (9N-ACW) of Nepal Airlines), which was parked engineless. There were no fatalities among the 44 passengers and four crew.[20]
  • On 22 August 2002, a Shangri-La Air Twin Otter aircraft, on a flight from Jomsom to Pokhara, crashed into a hill that was under complete cloud cover following three days of continuous rain. All three crew and 15 passengers were killed.[21]
  • On 16 February 2014, Nepal Airlines Flight 183 crashed shortly after taking off for a flight Pokhara to Jumla, in the country’s far west. The crash in bad weather killed all 18 on board.[22]

See also

References
  1. Pokhara Airport Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, accessed 4 March 2011
  2. Airport information for VNPK at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  3. Airport information for PKR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  4. "International Pokhara: Buddha Air eyes Indian tourism and pilgrim market", Nepali Times issue #274, 30 October 2010, accessed 4 March 2011.
  5. Lin, Ziyu. "With new airport, Pokhara waits for takeoff - Nation - Nepali Times". archive.nepalitimes.com. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. "Buddha Air Lucknow flight" Archived 19 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, buddhaair.com, accessed 28 September 2012.
  7. "Buddha Air plans to start Pokhara-New Delhi flight" Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, "Tour Nepal", accessed 28 September 2012.
  8. http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=71653
  9. "NEW DESTINATION ALERT!". Buddha Air. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  10. "Buddha Air Flight Routes". Buddha Air. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  11. "Domestic Flight Schedule". Nepal Airlines. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  12. "Flight Schedule". Simrik Airlines. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  13. "Flight Schedule". Sita Air. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  14. "Current Flight Schedule". Summit Air. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  15. "Flight Schedule". Tara Air. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  16. "Scheduled Flights". Yeti Airlines. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  17. "Pokhara Mountain Flight". Buddha Air. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  18. "Annapurna Express". Yeti Airlines. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  19. "Civil Aviation Report 2018" (PDF). Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  20. Aviation Safety Network retrieved 18 November 2006
  21. Aviation Safety Network retrieved 19 November 2006
  22. Adhikari, Deepak (18 February 2014). "Nepal plane crash in bad weather killed all 18 on board". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
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