Balewa airport comes in operation after 25 years

The Balewa airport in Baglung, which had remained shut for nearly two and a half decades, has conducted test flight on Tuesday. The test flight of Tara Air from Pokhara to Balewa airport was conducted with the objective to bring the airport into regular operation by March 23. Tara air said there was no difficulty in operating regular flights. Captains Sanjeev Shrestha, Santosh Shah, Prabhakar Ghimire and Cabin crew Srijana Humagain conducted the test flight. They also surveyed the airport flying multiple times around the airport region to analyze appropriate directions and necessary infrastructures. Air Traffic officer at Balewa airport Imnath Adhikari said the airport was ready for operation and adding a few infrastructures on site will further enhance the airport. The airport is finally resuming its operation as a result of constant effort by the locals and the elected representatives of the Dhaulagiri region. The airport was actually constructed 26 years ago with the effort of locals providing voluntary labour from then 14 Village Development Committees.