Pokhara, Feb. 28:The need of an international airport is increasingly felt in the bustling sub-metropolis and tourism haven, Pokhara, these day.

There has been unexpected spurt in tourist flow and number of standard hotels in the valley while the urbanisation process is also gaining momentum here. In the face of growing demand for more modern facilities, the existing airport is now unable to cope with the increasing number of tourists.

With the advent of open air policy and private sector participation in aviation sector, cargo handling activity has increased sharply but the airport is still without night service facilities. These are one of the main reason why the need of an international airport, in the form of an alternative to the existing one though, is gaining support here.

Development taking place in education, health, industrial sectors, establishment of regional office govt. and ngos’ offices here also calls for development of Pokhra from the standpoint of transport.

In this context, it may be noted that over the last twenty-five years, about 158 hectares of land has been acquired in several phases for the construction of a new airport at Chhinedanda in the valley. The place is four kilometres from the down town Pokhara.

As the place was thought appropriate from technical point of view, an engineering survey to that effect was conducted there and an airport master plan  was prepared in 1969.

A German engineering consultancy firm completed a detailed design for the purpose in 1971. Thereafter, jica made a fresh study about it and submitted a master plan suggesting more extensive runway.

It is possible to build there a runway of 2500 metre length which will enable a medium range aircraft like B-757 to land there, according to the knowledgeable sources.

The proposed airport will enable Pokhra to have direct link at least with Asian countries. However, it does not have enough space for developing physical infrastructures  commensurate with any prospective international airport.

The existing airport with its north-south orientation has some technical snags that limit its runway extention to only 1447 and the proximity of mountains also poses some problems of direct plane landing and take-off, thereby making it difficult to provide night flight services.

The old airport earns about Rs. 20 million annually from air flight services but  precludes the possibility of adding various facilities needed to tackle the growing passenger flow.