Jomsom Airport VNJS (Nepal) v1.0
Jomsom Airport VNJS v1.0by Sergio Del Rosso
Jomsom Airport (IATA: JMO, ICAO: VNJS)is a domestic airport located in Jomsom serving Mustang District, a district in Gandaki Pradesh in Nepal.It serves as the gateway to Mustang District that includes Jomsom, Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Lo Manthang, and Muktinath temple, which is a popular pilgrimage for Nepalis and Indian pilgrims.
The airport resides at an elevation of 8,976 feet (2,736 m) above mean sea level.It has one asphalt paved runway designated 06/24 which measures 2,424 by 66 feet (739 m × 20 m).There is a down slope of 1.75% up to about 418 feet (127 m) from the threshold of runway 06.There is a terminal building for passengers.
There are daily flights between Pokhara Airport and Jomsom during daylight hours in good weather.Although the flying distance is short and flight time just 20 minutes, very high mountains between Pokhara and Jomsom, including Dhaulagiri (8,167 m or 26,795 ft) and Tukuche (6,920 m or 22,703 ft) on the west and Nilgiri Central (6,940 m or 22,769 ft) and Annapurna (8,091 m or 26,545 ft) on the east, require planes to fly through the Kali Gandaki River gorge. With Jomsom Airport located at the head of the gorge, high terrain surrounding the airport presents a hazard when a go-around is required and when, as is frequently necessary after mid-morning, a turn is required at Jomsom to land into southerly winds. Heat from the sun in the Mustang District causes strong southerly winds in the Kali Gandaki River gorge and at Jomsom after early morning.
Cloud cover, changing visibility, and high winds, often mean flights are delayed or the airport closed.
The airport is available throughout the year but visibility is not adequate for visual flight rules flightabout 15% of the time. As wind speeds increase during and the day and high wind speeds often prevent airportoperation after midday, airlines schedule flights to Jomsom for the early morning when wind speeds are low. Airlines operate a shuttle service between Jomsom and Pokhara and planes are turned around as rapidlyas possible at each airport in order to complete as many flights as possible before wind speeds atJomsom become too high or visibility forces the suspension of flights.
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