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EGov Assignment

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d6b9rpxzcs
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Challenges in Air Traffic Management of Nepal

A Term Paper prepared for assignment of Communication Skill for e-Governance

Submitted to:

Prof. Dr. Ramesh Bajracharya

E- Governance Program

Faculty of Social Science and Technology

Nepal Open University

Lalitpur, Nepal

Submitted by:

Surya Sharma

Roll No: 76241042


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 2

INTRODUCTION 3

METHODOLOGY 4

BODY 5-9

CONCLUSION 10

ABBREVIATIONS 11

REFERENCE 12
ABSTRACT

With the rise in the airline industry and construction of new airports and
runways, air traffic has increased dramatically in the past few years. It has put additional
pressure on air traffic control system that handles thousands of flights per day. To avoid delays
and collisions, air traffic management has to work efficiently. Many problems and challenges are
faced by them. In Nepal also there is significant increases in density of air traffic so this rise
leads to several problems in air traffic management. The main objective of this term paper is to
analyze different factors affecting Air Traffic Management in Nepal. Since Tribhuvan
International Airport is one and only International facilitated with modern surveillance and
navigation equipment such as RADAR and VOR/DME, it is kept in focus for research purpose.
Through the help of this term paper, we can understand the major challenges existing in
aviation sector of Nepal.
INTRODUCTION

Air Traffic Management is an aviation term encompassing all systems that assists aircraft to depart
from an aerodrome, transit airspace, and land at a destination aerodrome, including Air Traffic Control,
Air Traffic Services, and Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management. It can be affected by so many factors.
The challenges for Air Traffic Management are different in different countries or to be precise it is
different in different airports. Since aviation field requires high safety protocols guided by International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and invested with large capital, even a small error in management can
cause a huge loss to human life and money.

In Nepal, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is both service provider as well as regulatory
body of aviation. It has 1 International Airport with another 2 (Pokhara Intl Airport and Gautam Buddha
Intl Airport) in the last phase of going in operation along with 34 domestic airports. Basically, airports
are categorized into two types i.e.; Controlled and Uncontrolled depending upon the equipment
available and type of flight operating there. Inside Nepalese Flight Information Region (FIR) there are 12
controlled airport whereas other are uncontrolled airports with AFIS(Aerodrome Flight Information
Services).

In Tribhuvan International Airport there are more than 100 Air Traffic
Controllers are working daily to manage air traffic management in safely, orderly and in efficient way.
More than 13 domestic flight carriers along with 25 International airlines are operating based on this
airport. There are also 12 Helicopter companies which are also giving service from here making TIA one
of the busiest airports in South Asia.
Methodology

In this paper both quantitative and qualitative analysis is used for research. I have
used the data provided by various websites of aviation related organizations of Nepal and also
included thoughts given by some Aviation related personnel on this matter in their interaction.
From these data I have done an observation and drawn a conclusion.
BODY

CAAN is the organization which is both service provider and regulatory body of aviation
in Nepal. It plays a significant role in ATM and planning. In today’s time there is 1 international, 4
regional hub and 49 domestic airports in Nepal. Among which 35 airports are in regular operation.
Besides 2 international airports are under constructions which are supposed to be in operation from
March 2022. As per the flight movement data of 2019\20 there were 32439 international flights and
91816 domestic flights operated from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). Likewise, there were
4138563 and 3188417 no. of passengers in TIA travelling through international and domestic flights
respectively generating more than 5 billion incomes. This data shows the 75% of total flight and
passenger movement in Nepal are from TIA. Currently, there are 23 international destination and 25
internal destination which are currently in direct connection with Kathmandu.

Fig 1: Airports in Nepal


Fig: International Air Connectivity of Nepal
Fig: Flight Movement data of TIA

If we look into the geographical diversity of Nepal, world’s lowest valley to highest peak
lies here. Most of the area is covered with high hills and mountains. This sort of geography seems to be
a challenging in aviation. There is always a challenge for a aircraft and air traffic controller in airports of
hilly region. Lukla airport of Solukhumbu district has been listed as world’s most dangerous airport
through one of the renown tv channel in the world “Discovery”. As per one of the senior Captain of Tara
airline Pawan Singh Nagarkoti” the rapidly changing nature of weather pattern and short runway plays a
significant role in safety concern of aircrafts so even a small margin of error would lead to biggest loss.”
Fig: Accident rates in past decade

There is numerous factor which plays significant role in air traffic management. One of them is types of
Traffic operating in Aerodrome.

Types of Traffic
The only international airport of Nepal (TIA) entertains heterogenous types of
flights like 16 seated twin otters to 380 seated Boeing B-777 within same runway. Different
aircrafts and their operators have different criteria for landing and takeoff which directly
impacts the movements of traffic per hour. For e.g., any one aircraft requires 1600m visibility to
land whereas other one need 3200m visibility to land. These sort of variation in criteria among
different aircrafts may need to make a hold for an aircraft with higher requirements for
approach. Eventually it will require high consumption of fuel and will lead to increase in air fair
as well as directly impacts air quality with Carbon Emission.
Another major factor affecting the management of air traffic in TIA is Density of traffic.
Density of Traffic
As per the capacity of TIA in visual meteorological condition (VMC) it can handle
13 domestic and 6 international traffic per hour. Whereas in instrumental mereological
condition (IMC) these numbers are reduced to 9 flights per hour. Looking at this, TIA which
operates 18 hour per day can handle 180 traffic in average per day. But before Covid-19, daily
flight movement in TIA were more than 400 i.e.; 13 flights per hour which may be more in peak
hour during evening time so, due to this reason many international aircrafts have to be diverted
to other countries and there is significant delay in flight schedule of domestic aircrafts. This
situation creates pressure in air traffic controller to accommodate so many aircrafts inside
Kathmandu FIR.
Another major factor affecting the management of air traffic in TIA is the design of flight
procedure and airspace of Nepal. The airspace management service applies an enhances flexible use of
air space by developing different flight procedures for Arriving Departing flights. Currents procedures for
departing and arriving flights are highly affected by the nearby terrain existing inside Kathmandu Valley.
As per Kiran Dahal, Sr. Air Traffic Controller of TIA, more than 1 aircraft cannot be accommodated inside
Kathmandu Valley if there is any International Traffic making approach or carrying out departure
procedure which in results can delay the flight schedule of other aircrafts in que for either landing or
take-off.

One of the unavoidable factors which impacts in air traffic management in negative way is
weather pattern that is prevailing in Nepal. Specially during monsoon season fog lifts up from various
river inside Kathmandu valley such as Manohara and Bagmati river which results weather of Kathmandu
valley to IMC condition. Due to IMC condition Air traffic controllers need to apply more separation
between aircrafts which eventually slow down the process of landing and takeoff. This condition is more
challenging in STOL airports of remote areas in Nepal where weather

In aviation field technology and equipment changes rapidly day by day. There are so many
sophisticated equipment for communication, surveillance and navigation purposes. Some of those
equipment cannot be afforded by countries like Nepal. Whereas, some of those equipment cannot be
installed here due to the geographical layout of TIA. For e.g., Instrument landing System (ILS) which is
one of the latest navigation equipment which helps aircrafts to land in runway even in zero visibility
couldn’t be installed in biggest and only one international airport of Nepal TIA due to the high terrain
located in approach path of the runway. Also with this lack of proper infrastructure also seen as another
factp

In every organization, Human Resource plays vital role to achieve its target. In case of Nepal
also lack of enough training facilities, not so employee friendly working environment creates hazard for
the smooth flow of Air Traffic. These kinds of situation can significantly increase the stress among
employees resisting ATCs to work in efficient way. And specially in underdeveloped countries like Nepal,
there is lack of safety culture in working procedure. Although ATM demands high value of safety in every
aspect, due to various reasons, TIA is failed to implement safety recommendations given by ICAO.
CONCLUSION

With various data and research done in this paper we can easily say that Geographical
layout plays vital role in affecting the air traffic management of Nepal. Along with this density of traffic,
Human Resource, Weather, Designing of Airspace, Types of aircrafts are the other major factors
affecting ATM system of Nepal.

To cope with this type of challenges, CAAN has to develop a plan, which also
includes automation technology which are now in effect in so many International Airports around the
world. To compete with global aviation industries, we have to give standard facilities as provided by
them. In future proper building of infrastructure and proper plan will drive ATM system in Nepal to right
way. Although all the challenges can not be mitigated in small span of time and some can only be
minimized to certain level, effort should be to follow the guidelines given by different expertise and
organizations guiding the civil aviation of Nepal.
ABBREVIATIONS

ATM Air Traffic Management

CAAN Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal

TIA Tribhuvan International Airport

FIR Flight Information Region

VFR Visual Flight Rules

IFR Instrument Flight Rules

STOL Short Take Off and Landing

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization


REFERENCES
https://caanepal.gov.np/

https://www.tourism.gov.np/

https://www.icao.intl

https://www.tiairport.com.np/
MIND MAP

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