TIA to cut daily operation hours from March

By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Feb. 26: Because of the significant decline in the number of flights, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) will be shortening its daily operation hours from March 28.
Currently, the country’s sole international airport operates for 21 hours from 6 am to 3 am daily. But the airport administration has now decided to shorten that time to 18 and a half hours and only stay open till 12.30 am. “The number of international flights decreased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not really picked up since. So, we decided to reduce the working hours of the airport,” Deo Chandra Lal Karn, TIA spokesperson, told The Rising Nepal.
This move will mainly affect FlyDubai, Nepal Airlines Corporation and Qatar Airways, among others, as per the TIA. “We have asked them to move their flights to before midnight as per the changed schedule,” Karn said.
According to data with the TIA, there were 80 daily flights to and from the airport before the pandemic and the following lockdown. Presently, the number of daily flights is less than half that at 30. “That is why the management decided to shorten the airport’s workday by two and a half hours. Without flights to cater to, the extra time was just causing additional expenses,” Karn informed.