Gelephu Airport

Gelephu Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorDepartment of Civil Aviation
LocationSarpang District
Elevation AMSL984 ft / 300 m
Coordinates26°53′10.3848″N 090°27′47.0052″E / 26.886218000°N 90.463057000°E / 26.886218000; 90.463057000
Map
GLU is located in Bhutan
GLU
GLU
Location within Bhutan
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 4,921 1,500 Asphalt

Gelephu Airport (IATA: GLU, ICAO: VQGP) is located in Samtenling Gewog, about three kilometres (1.9 mi) from Gelephu in Sarpang District, Bhutan. The airport has been constructed on an area spanning over 500 acres (200 ha) and came into regular use in late 2017. It is one of only four airports in Bhutan.

History

The airport was inaugurated in October 2012,[3] but regular scheduled operations were delayed for five years due to its lack of certification from the Department of Civil Aviation of Bhutan[4] and because of funding issues. The airport was initially planned as an international airport, but the plan was shelved in 2008.[5] In January 2015, The Department of Civil Aviation told Kuensel that the airport had been closed to scheduled flights due to the need to construct a new terminal building and control tower. A spokesperson said it was hoped the new structures would be completed in February 2015, and at that point, "from our side it’ll be [ready to] open to scheduled flights."[6] Despite this, it was reported that Drukair was unaware of the airport's reopening and stated that it would not launch commercial flights once it studied the market conditions to ensure scheduled operations were viable.[6] After a brief period of flights in 2015, which were found to be uneconomic, flights were eventually re-commenced in November 2017 with financial support from the Royal Bhutanese Government.[7]

In 2023, it was announced that a new international airport would be built as part of the proposed Gelephu Special Administrative Region. The existing domestic airport will remain operational.[8][9]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Drukair Paro, Trashigang[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ "VQGP - Gelephu Domestic Airport - SkyVector". skyvector.com. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  2. ^ "GeoNames". geonames.org. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Gelephu airport inaugurated". 25 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Gelephu airport – Inaugurated but not 'ready'". KuenselOnline. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  5. ^ Tenzing Lamsang (9 October 2008). "Gelephu Int'l Airport – Now A Domestic One". Kuensel. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  6. ^ a b Dorji, Gyalsten (2 January 2015). "Gelphu airport to open next month". KuenselOnline. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Domestic flights to Gelephu and Yonphula to commence November". KuenselOnline. 28 October 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  8. ^ Newspaper, Bhutan's Daily. "Master plan begins for international airport in Gelephu". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  9. ^ Mattoo, Shashank (2024-01-31). "India to help Bhutan develop Gelephu airport". mint. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  10. ^ "Drukair Resumes Gelephu Service From mid-Jan 2024". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 10 January 2024.