List of the busiest airports in Nepal

The list of the busiest airports in Nepal is a ranking of the country's air transport hubs based on annual passenger traffic, aircraft movements, and cargo tonnage. As a landlocked country with a predominantly mountainous terrain, aviation plays a vital role in Nepal's national infrastructure, providing essential connectivity to remote regions inaccessible by road and serving as the primary gateway for international tourism and labor migration. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) oversees the operation of 55 airports nationwide, of which approximately 34 are currently operational as of 2025.

Historically, the aviation sector has been heavily centralized around Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, which remains the country's primary international gateway and busiest domestic hub. In 2024, TIA recorded a record-breaking 9.5 million passengers, operating significantly above its designed annual capacity of 8 million. This congestion has prompted the government to decentralize air traffic through the inauguration of two new international facilities: Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa and Pokhara International Airport. While these new hubs have seen a steady rise in domestic traffic, surpassing 1 million annual passengers in Pokhara by 2024, they continue to work toward full international utilization to alleviate the pressure on the capital.

The domestic market is categorized into "trunk routes", connecting major cities in the Terai and mid-hills and "STOL" (Short Take-Off and Landing) routes that serve high-altitude Himalayan airstrips. Airports such as Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, and Bhadrapur consistently rank among the busiest for domestic movements due to their roles as regional economic centers. Conversely, Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla remains one of the busiest and most famous STOL airports in the world, serving as the critical entry point for the Everest trekking region.[1]

Statistics

2020-2024 data

The following is a list of 12 largest airports in Nepal by total passenger traffic in 2024, from CAAN statistics.[1]

Rank
(2024) 		Airport IATA
code 		City Total Passengers
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
1 Tribhuvan International Airport KTM Kathmandu 9,482,788 8,654,456 7,136,690 5,033,871 2,511,635
2 Pokhara International Airport PHH Pokhara 1,016,900 902,999 848,140 529,944 256,357
3 Biratnagar Airport BIR Biratnagar 659,889 671,144 764,208 643,869 296,059
4 Gautam Buddha International Airport BWA Siddharthanagar 619,639 551,639 585,730 558,739 181,703
5 Nepalgunj Airport KEP Nepalgunj 499,762 473,534 566,700 501,315 223,659
6 Bhadrapur Airport BDP Bhadrapur 372,555 342,229 390,074 326,518 131,905
7 Janakpur Airport JKR Janakpur 295,923 268,071 346,350 293,326 100,470
8 Dhangadhi Airport DHI Dhangadhi 285,121 350,123 318,123 260,046 145,312
9 Simara Airport SIF Jitpursimara 273,538 263,816 309,745 311,471 73,020
10 Bharatpur Airport BHR Bharatpur 234,566 227,807 246,964 202,969 80,387
11 Tenzing-Hillary Airport LUA Lukla 204,114 262,118 195,479 228,967 21,309
12 Surkhet Airport SKH Birendranagar 159,037 87,442 39,397 29,093 18,408

2015-19 data

The largest airports in Nepal as of 2019 are shown in table below.[2][3]

Rank
(2019) 		Airport IATA
code 		Total Passengers
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015
1 Tribhuvan International Airport KTM 7,327,042 7,190,238 6,339,235 5,268,338 4,581,210
2 Pokhara Airport PKR 720,714 609,975 446,024 328,031 274,550
3 Biratnagar Airport BIR 596,453 537,780 455,284 377,077 340,202
4 Nepalgunj Airport KEP 453,433 426,661 369,355 233,533 176,372
5 Gautam Buddha Airport BWA 388,378 377,692 300,393 168,421 107,914
6 Bhadrapur Airport BDP 281,000 228,128 192,584 162,153 164,891
7 Bharatpur Airport BHR 170,734 229,495 257,709 150,345 54,238
8 Dhangadhi Airport DHI 150,295 177,698 128,035 62,375 45,469
9 Simikot Airport IMK 138,104 54,261 59,770 57,207 21,922
10 Janakpur Airport JKR 136,678 79,296 64,703 53,283 44,655
11 Simara Airport SIF 134,573 231,291 107,154 78,756 45,525
12 Tenzing-Hillary Airport LUA 129,508 124,929 146,879 119,801 81,174

References

  1. ^ a b CAAN Report 2025 (PDF).
  2. ^ CAAN Report 2019-2020 (PDF). Kathmandu: Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). 2020.
  3. ^ CAAN Report 2018 (PDF). Kathmandu: Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). 2018.
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