Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa of Nepal is set to seek bids this week for the construction of a 35,000m² international terminal.
The airport authorities are preparing to invite bids following concerns that the earlier designed terminal, which is closing completion, may not be too large to handle future passenger traffic growth, reported Kathmandu Post.
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The international terminal would be almost as large as the terminal at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal director general Sanjiv Gautam said that the proposed construction will feature at least 15 parking bays and will be equipped with aerobridges.
The initially planned 15,000m² terminal will be repurposed for domestic flights and feature six parking bays. It will not have any aerobridges.
The plan to construct a new terminal building and parking bays follows the Finance Ministry’s concern that the currently designed facilities will be insufficient to handle future travel demand.
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By GlobalDataTribhuvan International Airport is heavily congested. It currently has nine parking bays, compelling the Finance Ministry to seek a bigger facility.
Meanwhile, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) will shut down its operations for ten hours over the next three months to upgrade the runway.
As part of the runway modernisation programme, the airport will run its operations from 1 April until 30 June between 8am and 10pm.
Chinese state-owned firm China National Aero Technology International Engineering Corporation won the Rs3.7bn ($32.52m) contract to modernise the runway.
During the first stage of the project, the contractor will replace the 3,000m-long runway. Parking bays will subsequently be prepared for the airplanes.
