Kathmandu, Nov 18, 2025

Nearly three years since its inauguration on January 1 in 2023, the Pokhara International Airport in the western tourist city of Pokhara continues to struggle to attract international airlines, raising concerns that the multi-million-dollar project could prove to be a big waste of money.

Only Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal–China joint-venture airline company, has been operating a scheduled flight once a week on the Pokhara–Lhasa route since March this year.

A government-constituted high-level study committee has now identified flaws in the airport’s physical and navigational design that impose load restrictions on medium-haul flights to and from the airport, raising concerns about the operational costs for airlines willing to operate regular flights through this airp

See Full Page