Hi Arthur,
Nepal has very very basic infrastructure. There was no crane in the city that could assist with the lift and as the runway was closed none could be flown in from India. The lift was conducted using airbags from India. I assume they were choppered in. The heliport is on the opposite side of the aerodrome.
This lack of infrastructure really does make the Nepalis the kings of improvising, as can be seen in the photos. No doubt the bosses at Turkish would have been having some coronaries but really there would have been no other option.
KTM is pretty much the only major airport in Nepal. Lukla is obviously rather famous, bit at 2800 amsl, only 530 metres long and with a 30 degree slope it is obviously far to short and unsuitable for anything other then a Twin Otter to land on. Lets be honest, they probably shouldn't even be landing there.
If Lukla was a better airport, the fact that there are no vehicular roads in Lukla is the next issue. The guests would have to walk the 90km, over 10,000 vertical metres to get to Jiri which is a short 160km and 6-8 hour drive from KTM. Yep 160kms in 8 hours gives you a clue to the quality of the regional roads in Nepal.
Pokhara is the only other airport that accepts fixed wing aircraft as far as I am aware. Although I have not flown there so I can not be sure. I believe the runway is about 1400m long, i'm not sure how wide it is. A320's need about 50m width, I think? I doubt Pokhara would be that wide. Its over 200kms from KTM, however the roads are a little better so I think 5 hour journeys between the cities are not to uncommon.
Nepal is an awesome country however they are just a few years behind in infrastructure. I'd like to think this incident brings some attention on the airport though. They really can't afford to have it closed for such a long period of time. Tourism can be effected to easily and i'm sure it would be the countries largest export.
Cheers
M
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