Passenger movement at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) doubled in 2014 as compared to the previous year. TIA provided international aviation services to a total of 3.25 million passengers in 2014 against the target of 1.4 million.

Similarly, 1.4 million domestic passengers were expected to receive services from TIA in 2014 but this number increased to 1.5 million, according to TIA General Manager Birendra Shrestha.

Passenger movement has increased at TIA but the country’s only international airport’s capacity hasn’t been increased.

Similarly, Shrestha said that the Gautam Buddha Airport in Bhairahawa that will be upgraded to a regional international airport by 2017 will draw at least 20 percent of the air passengers currently using TIA to fly.

Currently the air traffic at TIA is more than its capacity.

A budget of Rs 3.2 billion was allocated for TIA in the last fiscal year i.e. 2014/15. The airport’s budget for FY 2015/16 has been set at Rs 4.6 billion.

In the last fiscal year (2014/15), TIA collected more than Rs 6.71 billion in revenue – the highest for any given fiscal year so far.