On May 16, 2022, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa, commencing flight operations with Nepal Airlines Corporation and Jazeera Airways. Jazeera had expressed interest in running three weekly commercial flights. Despite initial activity also from Himalaya Airlines, the $76 million (NPR 10 billion) infrastructure, funded by the Asian Development Bank and the OPEC, has remained unused for over a year and a half. The GBIA, located at the gateway to Lumbini, faces challenges such as air entry routes, the absence of an Instrument Landing System (ILS), and insufficient passenger traffic. While promoting the airport to the Nepali diaspora, Buddhist countries and key tourist