11 February, Kathmandu. Commercial flights have resumed at Ilam’s Phalgunanda Sukilumba airport. Tara Air in association with Ilam Municipality has started regular Kathmandu-Ilam flight. Tara Air’s nine NLO TwinAir took off from Tribhuvan International Airport at 10:40 am and landed at Sukilumba airport at 11:27 am.
Tara Air took off in collaboration with Nepal Tourism Board, Ilam Municipality and tourism businessmen, the airline’s chief executive officer Anuj Rimal said. He also said that the airport is committed to continuous flights. Rimal also said that it will continue to fly commercially. He also said that the flight could be continued with the help of Ilam residents.
Tara Airlines spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said that the flight was successful only with the cooperation of various tourism entrepreneurs, tourism board and Ilam Municipality. He said that in the coming days a study is being done for continuous flying and he is confident that continuous flight will be facilitated with the help of the people of Ilam. He told that the flight schedule has been made for two days at the airport on Sunday and Thursday.
The first commercial flight was attended by 14 people including Tourism Board Vice President Chandra Rizal, TAN President Achyut Guragain, Hotel Association Vice President Binayak Shah, a tourist entrepreneur and a technical team from Tara Air.