Tourist buses parked at the bus station in Pokhara at dawn, the depot that has fallen largely deserted since the Krishnabhir collapse idled the Pokhara-Kathmandu fleet
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Pokhara Tourist Buses Idle as Kathmandu Flights Triple

Byanish maharjan

Quick answer, as of Sunday 6 September 2026: About 150 tourist buses that normally run between Pokhara and Kathmandu are sitting idle after the late-August Bhotekoshi flood damage collapsed a section of the Prithvi Highway at Krishnabhir in Dhading district. With the main road link cut, the Pokhara-Kathmandu air route has nearly tripled in volume: more than 3,500 passengers flew on Friday 4 September across 50 flights operated by Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines and Shree Airlines, up from about 1,300 passengers a day before the flood. A temporary diversion track around the collapse could open within about a week, officials say, but there is no confirmed reopening date for the highway itself.

Here is what the numbers show, what tourism operators in Pokhara are doing about it, and what the disruption means for travellers heading into Nepal’s autumn season.

Key Takeaways

  • About 150 Pokhara-Kathmandu tourist buses are idle. Only tourist buses heading to Chitwan and Lumbini, which do not cross the collapsed section, are still departing Pokhara.
  • Air traffic has nearly tripled. Daily passengers on the Pokhara-Kathmandu route jumped from about 1,300 on 25 August to more than 3,500 on Friday 4 September, on 28 Buddha Air, 18 Yeti Airlines and 4 Shree Airlines flights.
  • An alternative route is being studied. The NATTA Gandaki chapter inspected a Jamire-Benighat alignment on Saturday 5 September that uses a suspension bridge across the Trishuli river.
  • Nearly 1,000 tourism businesses and workers in Pokhara are directly affected, just as the autumn tourist season begins.
  • Reopening timeline is unconfirmed. A diversion track at Krishnabhir is expected to be operational within about a week, but officials are not sure how long it will withstand traffic once it opens.

Table of Contents

What Happened: The Confirmed Picture

The Bhotekoshi river flood of 26 August 2026 triggered erosion along the Trishuli river that damaged the Prithvi Highway at Krishnabhir, one of the most landslide-prone points on the Kathmandu-Pokhada corridor. A section of the road slid into the Trishuli, cutting the main overland link between the capital and Nepal’s western districts, including the tourist hub of Pokhara and the trailheads of the Annapurna region beyond it.

The Kathmandu Post’s Gandaki Province desk reported on Sunday 6 September that the consequences are now visible on both sides of the route. The tourist bus fleet that carries the bulk of overland visitors has stopped running, while airlines are absorbing displaced passengers as fast as they can add seats.

Tourist buses parked at the bus station in Pokhara in the early morning
The bus station at Pokhara in the early morning. With the Krishnabhir section of the Prithvi Highway collapsed, about 150 Pokhara-Kathmandu tourist buses are idle and the tourist bus park is largely deserted. Photo: Greg Willis, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Jashoda Subedi, spokesperson for Pokhara International Airport, confirmed the shift to the Post. Passenger loads on the route had actually fallen in earlier years as the Prithvi Highway improved, and airlines would merge flights or operate with relatively few passengers. Since the highway was cut, occupancy has risen sharply: flights are packed and tickets are difficult to get, she said.

The Numbers: Air Route Nearly Triples as Buses Stop

Airport records cited by the Post show how quickly demand moved from road to air:

Date Pokhara-Kathmandu air passengers Context
25 August 2026 (day before the flood) about 1,300 Normal late-summer demand
Friday 4 September 2026 more than 3,500 50 flights: 28 Buddha Air, 18 Yeti Airlines, 4 Shree Airlines
Dashain and New Year peaks (historical) up to 4,400 The route’s busiest festival periods

Friday’s figure matters because it approaches the route’s historical festival peak of about 4,400 passengers a day without any festival being involved. The surge is purely displaced road traffic: the same travellers who would have ridden a tourist bus are now competing for air seats, and that competition is expected to intensify as autumn bookings build.

For the airlines, the irony is sharp. As the Post reports, the improved Prithvi Highway had been slowly taking passengers away from the 25-minute flight; operators merged departures to fill planes. The flood damage has reversed that dynamic overnight, and carriers have responded by adding roughly 50 flights on the route in a single day.

How the Collapse Idled Pokhara’s Tourist Bus Fleet

The tourist bus park at Mustang Chowk in Pokhara, normally busy from early morning until late at night, is now largely deserted, the Post reported. Buddhi Sagar Paudel, an employee at the Mustang Chowk branch of the Prithvi Highway Bus Operators’ Company, described the normal daily departure schedule before the closure:

Departure point in Pokhara Daily tourist bus departures to Kathmandu
Mustang Chowk 24 in the morning, plus 8 at night
Prithvi Chowk 14
Lamachaur 8
Hemja 2
Zero Kilometre 2

Only tourist buses travelling to Chitwan and Lumbini are currently operating, he said, because those routes do not cross the collapsed section at Krishnabhir.

The knock-on effects reach well beyond the bus operators. The disruption has directly affected nearly 1,000 tourism businesses and workers, according to Sangeeta Paudel, chair of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) Gandaki chapter. The collapse has arrived just as the tourist season is beginning, she noted, and the suspension of the large buses has also reduced passenger numbers for smaller and medium-sized tourist vehicles that depended on the same travel flows.

The Jamire-Benighat Alternative Route, Step by Step

On Saturday 5 September, NATTA Gandaki inspected an alternative alignment that could bypass the collapsed section entirely by crossing the Trishuli river. Sangeeta Paudel described to the Post how the workaround would function:

  1. Tourist buses from Pokhara carry passengers east along the Prithvi Highway as far as Krishnabhir, the approach to the collapsed section.
  2. Passengers walk across the suspension bridge from Krishnabhir to Jamire on the opposite bank of the Trishuli.
  3. From Jamire, travellers continue about 11 kilometres by jeep to Benighat.
  4. At Benighat, passengers transfer to tourist buses arriving from Kathmandu and continue their journey.

The association is studying the crossing as a contingency. A diversion track is currently being built at Krishnabhir, and NATTA has been told it will be operational within a week, Paudel said, but it is unclear how long it will withstand traffic once it opens. If the main road remains unusable for a long period, the Jamire-Benighat route could keep autumn tourist traffic moving.

The reason operators are even considering a bridge-and-jeep transfer is that the other obvious detour does not work for coaches. Large vehicles cannot use the Tribhuvan Highway from Hetauda towards Naubise, which rules out the southern loop for the tourist bus fleet.

What It Means for Autumn Travellers

The timing is the real problem. Late September through November is Nepal’s main trekking and climbing season, and Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna region, the country’s second-most-popular trekking destination. Travellers holding autumn bookings should read the current situation as a transport problem on the approach leg, not a problem with the destination itself: Pokhara, the Annapurna trails, Chitwan and Lumbini are all operating normally.

For practical planning, the options as of Sunday 6 September are:

  1. Fly. Kathmandu-Pokhara flights are running at high frequency, but seats are scarce and prices firm. Book as early as possible, and consider flying into Pokhara while continuing your itinerary by other means.
  2. Wait for the diversion track. The Department of Roads expects the temporary route around the Krishnabhir collapse to carry traffic within about a week (an estimate, not a guarantee). Expect convoys, night closures and heavy congestion when it opens.
  3. Use the Jamire-Benighat transfer if operators activate it. It is a luggage-friendly walk over a suspension bridge plus an 11-kilometre jeep hop; workable with a backpack, harder with a big duffel or with mobility constraints.
  4. Reroute by destination. Chitwan and Lumbini tourist buses are running as normal, so southern itineraries are unaffected.

Budget travellers should also note the wider supply picture: with the main highway blocked, goods are reaching Kathmandu through alternative roads, which is pushing up prices and limiting cooking-gas supplies, as the Post’s Money desk reported on Sunday. Carry some flexibility in your food and lodging budget on the Kathmandu side.

For background on how this disruption developed, see our earlier reporting: the Prithvi Highway closure at Krishnabhir explained (5 September), the full Bhotekoshi flood damage assessment (6 September), and the autumn climbing season outlook (5 September). Travellers can plan the trekking side with our complete Annapurna region guide, and Pokhara’s longer-term air connectivity push, including the Pokhara-Dubai flight discussions, suggests the city’s air links will keep growing regardless of what happens on the highway.

When Will the Highway Reopen?

Two timelines are in play, and both should be treated as estimates rather than confirmed commitments:

  • The diversion track: The Department of Roads has begun cutting a temporary route around the Krishnabhir landslide, widening a roughly 50-metre alignment past the collapse, as the Post reported on 4 September. NATTA Gandaki says it has been told the track will be operational within about a week. How long it survives monsoon-season traffic is an open question.
  • The permanent repair: No confirmed date. Rebuilding the collapsed embankment above the Trishuli is a structural job, not debris clearance, and the Department of Roads has not published a completion schedule for the original alignment.

The practical takeaway: check road status the day before you travel, do not plan night driving on this corridor while the monsoon persists, and keep a flight as a backup for any time-sensitive connection out of Kathmandu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are tourist buses running between Kathmandu and Pokhara right now?

No. About 150 tourist buses that serve the Pokhara-Kathmandu route are idle because the highway is cut at Krishnabhir. Only tourist buses to Chitwan and Lumbini are departing Pokhara, since those routes avoid the collapsed section.

Can I still fly between Kathmandu and Pokhara?

Yes. Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines and Shree Airlines together operated 50 flights on the route on Friday 4 September, carrying more than 3,500 passengers. The catch is demand: occupancy is extremely high and tickets are difficult to get, so book well in advance.

What is the Jamire-Benighat alternative route?

It is a transfer scheme inspected by the NATTA Gandaki chapter on 5 September. Buses reach Krishnabhir, passengers walk across a suspension bridge to Jamire, then travel about 11 kilometres by jeep to Benighat, where Kathmandu-bound buses take them onward. It is a contingency option, not an active service yet.

When will the Prithvi Highway reopen at Krishnabhir?

A temporary diversion track around the collapse is expected to carry traffic within about a week, according to officials quoted on 6 September, but that timeline is an estimate and the track’s durability is unknown. There is no confirmed date for the permanent repair of the collapsed section.

Should I cancel my autumn trip to Pokhara or the Annapurna region?

No. The destination is unaffected; only the overland approach is disrupted. Flights are operating at high frequency, the diversion track may soon relieve road pressure, and Chitwan and Lumbini routes are normal. Adjust your transport plan rather than your trip.

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