Kathmandu: Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa is set to host its first commercial wide-body flight today. Qatar Airways is scheduled to operate this flight using its Airbus A330 aircraft, which has a seating capacity of 305 passengers.

According to Pratap Tiwari, General Manager of Bhairahawa Airport, Qatar Airways will operate a daily flight on the Doha–Bhairahawa–Kathmandu–Doha route using its wide-body aircraft. The Qatar Airways flight is expected to land at Bhairahawa at 2:45 PM and will depart for Kathmandu at 4:45 PM. The flight will then leave Kathmandu for Doha at 6:55 PM.

Qatar Airways has received permission to operate flights to Bhairahawa until November 30 (Mangsir 15), with a total of 19 flights authorized by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

With the addition of Qatar Airways, the number of international airlines operating flights to Bhairahawa has reached five. This will increase the total number of weekly international flights to 24, as confirmed by Tiwari. Other airlines currently flying to Bhairahawa include Thai Air Asia, Jazeera Airways, Fly Dubai, and Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).

Thai Air Asia began its operations on November 3 (Kartik 18), followed by Jazeera Airways, Fly Dubai, and NAC, which started flights on November 10 (Kartik 24). Qatar Airways is set to join this list today. Unlike other airlines operating narrow-body aircraft, Qatar Airways will use wide-body planes for its Bhairahawa flights.

Qatar Airways and Fly Dubai will offer daily flights, while Jazeera Airways will fly three times a week, NAC five times a week, and Thai Air Asia twice a week.

The current flight schedule at Bhairahawa includes three flights on Sundays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and four flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, according to CAAN.