Bharatpur Airport : Chitwan Tourism

Bharatpur Airport

Bharatpur Airport (Nepali: भरतपुर विमानस्थल) (IATA: BHR, ICAO: VNBP) is an airport serving Bharatpur, a city in the Chitwan district in Narayani zone in Nepal.

The airport is located 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Bharatpur. It is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and is served by Nepal Airlines, the national airline which earns most of its revenue from this airport.

Bharatpur Airport is the country's 4th busiest. It is the main tourist gateway to Chitwan National Park, and is growing fast in terms of aircraft and passenger traffic: the trend for five years shows a steady growth of aircraft and passenger movements. The data up to November 2005 shows a growth of 7.5% and 17.6% against figures in the year 2004.

Location in Google Map

History

This airport was built as part of the resettlement and malaria control program in the Chitwan valley, with the assistance of the Government of the United States of America. The first passenger carrying flight landed in the airport on 5 March 1965.

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of 600 feet (183 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway which measures 1,158 by 30 metres (3,799 ft × 98 ft).

Bharatpur Airport is the base of Shivani Air(P)Ltd, the first fixed-wing pilot training school in the history of civil aviation in Nepal (although there is a fixed-wing aircraft flight training school under the Nepalese Army Air Service). Shivania Air provides commercial pilot license training of international standard (FAA, ICAO).

Profile

Date of First Service – March 5, 1961
Coordinates – 274041 N-0842546E
Elevation – 600 ft. AMSL
Ref. Temperature – 35°C
Runway Designation – 15/33 North-West/South-East
Runway Dimension – 1158 x 30 meter.
Surface – Bitumen
Service – Air Traffic Control Service
Design Aircraft – ATR, Beechcraft 1900, and Saab 340

Airlines and destinations

Buddha Air : Kathmandu and Pokhara
Yeti Airlies : Kathmandu
Simrik Airlines : Kathmandu

Expansion

The airport was initially served by domestic flights with grass runway from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu and Pokhara Airport in Pokhara by the country's national airline Nepal Airlines. After many years of lobbying by the local people and expatriates living abroad, limited expansion of the airport was carried out; a new terminal was built and the 1158-metre runway was paved to enable medium-sized aircraft used by Nepal Airlines and Nicon Air to operate. The work was completed in October 2005.

Incidents and accidents

12 July 1969 – RNA Douglas DC-3D (9N-AAP) collided with a tree while flying over a cloud covered ridge at 7,300 feet at Hetaunda, Nepal (70 km of Bharatpur Airport). All four crew and 31 passengers were killed.
31 July 1993 – Everest Air Dornier 228-101, on a flight from Kathmandu to Bharatpur, struck a mountain at Bharatpur. All 3 crew and 16 passengers were killed.
25 April 1996 – RNA BAe 748 Series 2B (9N-ABR) overran the runway at Meghauli Airport (19 km southwest of Bharatpur Airport), after a flight from Kathmandu, when landing in rain on the grass airstrip. The aircraft ran across some ditches, causing the nosegear to collapse. None of the 4 crew and 27 passengers were injured.

Source: Wikipedia