The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal on Sunday prevented Nepal Airlines' Delhi flight from taking off for defying instructions to move some of its international services to Bhairahawa's empty airport.

Shiny new Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa has been looking heavenwards for the past five and a half months for the expected flights that never came. In desperation, the country's aviation regulator has told airlines serving Kathmandu to shift a few of their flights to Bhairahawa, but they have not been so enthusiastic about it.

The Civil Aviation Authority has been claiming that several foreign carriers have expressed interest to link the new airport; but when it published its winter flight schedule on Sunday, there were embarrassingly no new services apart from the path-breaking Jazeera Airways of Kuwait.

The regulator struck back by cancelling Nepal Airlines' Delhi flight at 1:45 pm, leaving 245 bewildered passengers, many with onward connections, marooned at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Industry insiders say the move may intimidate foreign carriers to operate from Bhairahawa. “That is negative promotion of the country. It will destroy tourism as a whole,” they said.

“Tribhuvan International Airport was asked to cancel the flight of Nepal Airlines by headquarters. I followed orders,” said General Manager Prem Nath Thakur. “Headquarters has not approved the flight. It’s better to ask them for the reason.”

The Post unsuccessfully made repeated attempts to contact officials at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

Nepal Airlines officials said it was a surprise decision by the regulator.

“We were not granted permission to fly because we didn’t prepare the winter schedule including flights from Bhairahawa,” said Archana Khadka, spokesperson for Nepal Airlines. “The Civil Aviation Authority had issued a circular to allocate some flights to Gautam Buddha International Airport. We were assessing the feasibility.”

The regulator's decision has forced Nepal Airlines to incur massive losses as all flights had to be rescheduled, and the stranded passengers put up in a hotel, an official of the carrier said.

“It looks like the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, a facilitating agency, is now giving orders to operate flights. That’s sheer negligence and the height of incompetence,” said a Nepal Airlines official.

“We do business where it is feasible. We will need to invest millions if we establish another office in Bhairahawa and conduct operations from there. We don’t have enough aircraft to fly from Bhairahawa.”

Kuwait-based Jazeera Airways made the first international flight to the new airport on May 16. The carrier, which operates three weekly flights on the Bhairahawa-Kuwait City route on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, had planned to increase the frequency to a daily but gave up the idea.

The government spent nearly Rs40 billion to build the country's second international airport in the southern plains, and it has been trying hard to get foreign airlines to use the new facility since it launched.

Gautam Buddha International Airport is a 280 km drive from Kathmandu, and it is also intended to serve as an alternate and backup international air transport point for Nepal, should poor weather conditions or a natural calamity shut down the capital's Tribhuvan International Airport.

“Why hasn't a single international airline connecting Nepal kept Bhairahawa as an alternative airport to land there in case of an emergency?” asked the representative of a foreign carrier. “Obviously, there are issues. If our aircraft is stuck on the runway, who will be responsible?”

A number of international airline representatives whom the Post contacted said the civil aviation authority had been threatening almost all airline officials to fly to Bhairahawa. “The director general of the civil aviation body is doing everything unilaterally.”

Some airline officials have visited Bhairahawa to do a study. “But we haven't been invited by the civil aviation agency to discuss how to make the new airport run,” said an official. “This requires a coordinated approach.”

The lone operator Jazeera Airways has also started facing problems as the international airport in Bhairahawa, which is fitted with the instrument landing system (ILS) that enables flights to land even in poor visibility, is not working.

In September, according to airport officials, Jazeera Airways made at least four diversions to Lucknow Airport in India.

“Winter has started, and the new airport will be more problematic as the ILS is not working,” said another international airline official.

“If the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal keeps behaving like this, some airlines may cut flights or even remove Kathmandu from their network.”

With little to no activity on the marketing front, the shiny and swanky new airport in Bhairahawa, one of the longest lasting projects in the country, has turned out to be a white elephant, according to tourism entrepreneurs.

Despite enticing airlines to operate from Bhairahawa, the aviation regulator has been using “forceful measures” to attract them.

Airlines operating more than three daily flights from Kathmandu have been instructed to conduct at least one flight from Bhairahawa.

“We operate under business principles and feasibility. We cannot operate in any sector just because the regulator forces us to do so. That’s insane,” said an airline representative.

The civil aviation regulator has ordered Fly Dubai, Air Arabia and Qatar Airways to operate flights from Bhairahawa from December 16.

Airline representatives and travel trade entrepreneurs have been saying the new airport took many years to complete, but the government lacks the vision to properly market it.

According to airline officials, starting a new route can be expensive for any carrier, especially if they are flying to a new airport for the first time. Many new airports provide subsidies to attract airlines, especially if they are previously unserved cities, they say.

“The airline industry has billions in investment, and the way the regulator is making arbitrary decisions, it will hurt their growth,” said an unnamed official at Himalaya Airlines.

“We are ready to support the civil aviation body's initiative, but there should be a feasibility study first. A new airport does not mean it is workable and profitable. Sunday’s decision is a kind of pressure tactic. It will harm everyone.”