Kathmandu: The development of roads and its infrastructures nationwide in the present days has led some of the airports in rural areas of Nepal to shut down.
Earlier aiming at providing air service to the public, the government had constructed new airports to aid the people of rural areas with air transportation. But these airports are getting shut presently with the increase in the road network. Manang Airport, Langtang Airport, Syanboche airport are some of the examples of airports that have never seen any flight movement for decades.Among the 54 airports in the country 22 have already halted their operation.
The problem is that the government of Nepal had not any rigid plans in conservation and reoperation of those airports where once the maximum money of the country was spent in. The closed airports have not seen a single aircraft in decades. And with no human to operate the airports for years, those places have been turned into a mess. The Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai has been telling to upgrade the old airports and convert the airports that have no chances of operation into a gaming ground.
The abandoned airports also weren’t reopened by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) attributable to villages are greatly influenced despite adequate roadway transport.The airports in Nepal are turning into a grazing field for animals. On the adverse, the land of these airports is slowly being encroached. Locals and the land mafias are slowly taking over the marks of the land of the airport and changing its shape in maps already.
Dhorpatan Airport of Baglung initiated in 1973 is totally closed now. Meghauli Airport constructed in 1961 during the arrival of Britain’s Queen in Nepal which is also closed now except for few army operations. Sanfebagar airport in Achchham is also shut for a long time. Manang Airport which initiated an operation in 1981 which had its runway retopped in 2015 has not seen aircraft since 2012. Jiri Airport in Dolakha constructed in 1976 has also not seen any aircraft for a long. Langtang airport in Langtang, Kangeldananda Airport in Solukhumu, Rolpa Airport are also not in operation since a long time ago.