Paro Airport སྤ་རོ་གནམ་ཐང༌། | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Operator | Department of Civil Aviation of Bhutan | ||||||||||
Serves | Thimphu and Paro | ||||||||||
Location | Paro, Paro District, Bhutan | ||||||||||
Hub for | |||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 2,235 m / 7,332 ft | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 27°24′32″N 089°25′14″E / 27.40889°N 89.42056°E | ||||||||||
Website | paroairport | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Paro International Airport (Dzongkha: སྤ་རོ་གནམ་ཐང༌།, romanized: paro gnam thang) (IATA: PBH, ICAO: VQPR) is the sole international airport of the four airports in Bhutan. It is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi; 3.2 nmi) from Paro in a deep valley on the bank of the river Paro Chhu. With surrounding peaks as high as 5,500 metres (18,000 ft), it is considered one of the world's most challenging airports,[2] and only a very small number of pilots are certified to land at the airport.[3]
Flights to and from Paro are allowed under visual meteorological conditions only and are restricted to daylight hours from sunrise to sunset.[4][5] Paro airport was the only airport in Bhutan until 2011.[6] The airport is accessible by road, 6 km (3.7 mi; 3.2 nmi) from Paro city, and 54 km (34 mi; 29 nmi) from Thimphu by Paro-Thimphu road.