Weekly air service started at Dipayal Airport

Doti: Weekly air service has resumed at Dipayal Airport, which has been closed for a long time due to lack of passengers and upgrades. Summit Air has started flights from Dipayal to Dhangadhi once a week. 

On Friday, Summit Air flew to Dhangadhi with 13 passengers on its first flight. The first flight took place on Friday, almost ten years after the Dipayal airport was upgraded and closed on the initiative of Doti-elected federal MP Prem Bahadur Alemgar. 

After the construction of the airport at a cost of Rs 80 million by the Government of Nepal, it was agreed that the private sector airline Summit Air would fly.

Dipayal Airport staffer Jagannath Saud said, "The first flight took place on Friday after Summit Air agreed to operate the plane. 

At present, the fare from Dipayal to Dhangadhi has been fixed at Rs 3,200 per person. Even though there are one flight a week now, the number of flights can be increased later depending on the pressure of passengers, said Vishal Ghimire, chief of Civil Aviation Authority Dipayal. 

Tej Bahadur Dumrel, a local of Dipayal Pipalla, said that the passengers coming and going in Dashain have become comfortable with the resumption of flights. 

Summit Air has dropped three passengers on its first flight to Dipayal on Friday. The company said the passengers had left the airport saying they had not arrived on time. 
The flight time from Dipayal to Dhangadhi is 20 minutes.