The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Gelephu International Airport (GIA) has been the hub of national volunteerism led by His Majesty The King, members of the Royal Family, Cabinet members, high Lamas, officials, the armed forces and tens of thousands of volunteers, showing the critical importance of this airport to the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) project.
Talks on securing the two key air routes through India for landing and takeoff for the Gelephu International Airport (GIA), Igay and Taray in the east and west, are going well between the two countries.
The aim is to get the routes finalized before or by December this year.
In November 2025, this paper reported that both countries were in the process of jointly drafting an important overall Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will then serve as the template for moving forward on the Gelephu International Airport (GIA) and more.
As reported by this paper then, the most important component of the MoU being discussed by both countries is the Flight Information Region (FIR) over Bhutan.
This paper had earlier reported that the airspace above Bhutan is the country’s sovereign airspace, and given the comparatively late entry of civil aviation to Bhutan and the limited capacity of the past, Bhutan has yet to list the airspace above Bhutan under the FIR of Bhutan with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
An FIR is a clearly defined block of airspace above a country for which the country is responsible for providing Air Traffic Services such as flight information services, alerting services and general airspace management.
The Indian side has indicated that both countries need to resolve the FIR issue first in the MoU before proceeding with the GIA.
This paper, eight months ago, reported that the Bhutanese side is likely to seek help from the Government of India for Bhutan to apply for and register the FIR with the ICAO, as Bhutan has not handed over this FIR right to anyone to date.
It is understood that the talks between the two sides are mainly focused on the aspect of the FIR and how it will work before the GIA can be worked out.
Some rounds of talks have been held since then and it is likely that both countries will put together a group of experts or officials from both sides to conduct detailed talks, as in any major agreement or project between the two countries. Once a certain agreement is reached, it will be escalated to the higher levels for approval or modifications.
So far there seems to be a broad understanding between the two countries on the FIR, and the details need to be worked out by appointed officials.
For the Bhutanese side, having a sovereign FIR registered under its name is important, and for the Indian side, it has its own security and air defence requirements in the border region. It is hoped that both of these can be accommodated in an environment of trust and friendship between the two countries.
Bhutan formally placed a request for the two routes, Igay and Taray in the east and west, to directly fly out of and into the GIA in October 2024, and discussions have been going on between both sides since then.
Linked to this is the requirement to establish a Terminal Control Area on the Indian side, around 20 km deep, when planes maneuver to land or take off from the GIA, whereby the Bhutanese Air Traffic Service at the GIA can guide and manage the planes in the air.
As reported earlier by this paper, Bhutan will also aim through the MoU to get a ‘Letter of Agreement’ signed between the two countries, which will formalize the cross-border air traffic operations that are already taking place, but for which there is no agreement yet. For example, when a plane flying from Paro to Bangkok is in the air, it will inform the Kolkata FIR that it is about to transition into Indian airspace under the Kolkata FIR.
The ‘Letter of Agreement’ issue that is likely to be included in the MoU is a larger issue that goes even beyond the GIA and FIR, as the lack of such a letter was one of the reasons Bhutan was red-flagged by the ICAO in 2018, and to this day Bhutan has not been able to resolve the issue.
Once the MoU is done, it is also hoped that Bhutan can secure Fifth Freedom Rights while flying via India (Delhi) to destinations like Dubai so that it can pick up some local passengers to make the flight route viable.
During the November 2025 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government of India conveyed its full support for the realization of His Majesty’s vision for GMC, and PM Modi even said that GMC fits into India’s ‘Act East Policy’.
There is goodwill and an enhanced effort between officials of both sides to get a deal done on time.
The GIA construction started on 8th July 2025, led by His Majesty The King, Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, Their Royal Highnesses, members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister, government ministers, officials and many members of the public.
His Majesty has worked on the site time and again, leading thousands of volunteers from all walks of life.
The GMC Nation Building Bond raised Nu 3.3 billion from 35,000 Bhutanese, and the GMC Deposit raised millions of dollars from thousands of Bhutanese abroad, all aimed at funding the GIA.
The GIA will be the first and most important infrastructure project of the GMC.
The airport will span 4 square kilometres across the Paitha River. Key features include a 3,000-metre CAT I Code 4E runway capable of handling Airbus A321 and Boeing 737 aircraft at the outset, and wide-body aircraft in the longer term.
It will have the capacity for 1.3 million annual passengers initially, expandable to 5.5 million and beyond as required.
