The gateway to some of the most fascinating places north of the Himalayas
NEPAL TRAVELLER
A domestic airport located in Jomsom serving Mustang district, Jomsom Airport is one of the most treacherous airports in Nepal. At 8900 ft it sits on top of the Kali Gandaki River canyon and connects the city of Jomsom to the rest of Nepal.
It serves as a gateway to many tourist destinations including Jomsom, Kagbeni, Tangbe, Lo Manthang and Muktinath, which is a popular pilgrimage site for Nepalis and Indian pilgrims.
The air route to this airport offers snow-capped mountain ranges and views of the sun shining on the snow-capped mountains. The wind speed hits 40-45 knots in the area and creates hurdles in operations of flights.
Airlines and destinations
There are daily flights between Pokhara Airport and Jomsom during daylight hours and when weather permits. Many airlines offer their service through scheduled flights to the airport.
Although the flying distance is short and flight time just 20 minutes, mighty mountains between Pokhara and Jomsom, like Tukuche, Nilgiri and Annapurna require planes to fly through the Kali Gandaki River gorge.
The airport has an asphalt airstrip 2400 ft long and 66 feet wide. The IATA and ICAO codes are JMO and VNJS respectively.
Perched at an elevation of 8,976 ft the airport is situated on the banks of the Kali Gandaki River lying between majestic mountains and towering peaks. The airport features a blacktopped runway of 739 meters by 20 meters with the alignment of 06/24 with a fantastic view of the Nilgiri Mountain.
It has the capacity of parking 4 fixed-wing aircraft and 2 helicopters in its territory. Airlines operate from morning to noon only due to weather adversity later in the day.
Jomsom valley is one of the great tourist destinations of Nepal and the airport is situated in the world-famous Annapurna circuit trek route. Flights per day range from 1 to up to 5 maximum flights that are directly affected by weather phenomena. During peak tourism season 5 to 7 flights operate per day.
Compiled by Rina Kumari Mandal
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