Pokhara Airport (IATA: VNPK) is a domestic airport serving Pokhara in Nepal. Pokhara Airport will be gradually replaced by Nepal's third international airport, Pokhara International Airport, in 2023.[4] While most operations were transferred to the new airport on 1 January 2023, the STOL-operations to Jomsom are still operated from this airport.[5]
Pokhara Airport पोखरा विमानस्थल | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner | Government of Nepal | ||||||||||
Operator | Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal | ||||||||||
Serves | Pokhara, Nepal | ||||||||||
Focus city for | |||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 2,712 ft / 827 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 28°12′03″N 083°58′55″E / 28.20083°N 83.98194°E | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Pokhara Airport Location of airport in Nepal Pokhara Airport Pokhara Airport (Nepal) | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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The airport was established on 4 July 1958 by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Until the 2010s, it offered regular connections to Kathmandu and Jomsom; and seasonal connections to Manang. In 2011 Buddha Air, a private Nepali airline, began international flights from Pokhara to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, India,[6] and announced plans to fly to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in the future.[7] However these international flights were discontinued soon after.
In the late 2010s, Pokhara Airport became Nepal's second domestic hub for air travel.[8]
The apron of the airport is relatively small and can only handle eight propeller planes at a time. Pokhara Airport is a diversion airport for the country's main airport in Kathmandu in times of problems such as fog. Due to a short runway and crowded apron, flights must often be re-diverted to third airports with even shorter runways.[9]
Airlines | Destinations |
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Sita Air | Jomsom, Kathmandu[10] |
Summit Air | Jomsom |
Tara Air | Jomsom[11] |
Several Ultralight aviation companies offer recreational and sightseeing flights from Pokhara Airport.[12]
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.