Source::The Kathmandu Post
With the technical testing in the Gautama Buddha International Airport happening tomorrow with its navigational and communication equipment, Nepal's civil aviation body, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has announced the airport commercial opening is slated for May 16, with the current roadmap.
May 16, the day of the airport projected opening, also coincides with the full moon day when Gautama Buddha was born, became enlightened and entered nirvana. The 6.22 billion rupee project located in central Thai is the gateway to the internationally infamous pilgrimage destination of Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha.
While Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, the company contract awarded with the supply, delivery, installation and commissioning of the communication and navigation and air traffic management while installing the equipment in August 2021, was reluctant to calibrate and test the equipment until a nearly zero COVID situation.
Due to this, the project, which was supposed to end in October 2021, was put on hiatus over months. Following this reluctance, CAAN approached South Korean and Indian governments and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States for the testing but only the Indian government responded positively.
Nepal asked the Airports Authority of India to provide periodic airport and flight inspection services for its airports and was proposing to sign a three-year contract with India. But then it was deemed unnecessary as the Thai company reapproached them after the CAAN dispatched a letter informing the company's action a breach of the agreement.
Now, a seven-member team of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand will land on the 3,000 m long and 45m wide runway of the airport in an HS-AIM 350 Super King Air aircraft and will keep its end of the $4.83 million contract to calibrate and test the equipment they had earlier installed.
