Flight cancellations in Nepal disrupt travel and tourism

19 September, 2012

Flights were delayed as the weather started deteriorating from the morning till late afternoon and more than a thousand passengers were stranded at Kathmandu airport.

ALL FLIGHTS to Bharatpur, Tumlingtar, Lamidanda and Phaplu including dozens other flights in Pokhara and Biratnagar were canceled on Monday due to poor visibility caused by the adverse weather. Flights were delayed as the weather started deteriorating from the morning till late afternoon and more than a thousand passengers were stranded at Kathmandu airport. Hence domestic airlines operators had no other choice but to cancel outgoing/incoming flights to Kathmandu.

In Kathmandu-Lukla sector, an aircraft was able to operate in late afternoon after the visibility improved. All flights from Kathmandu to Simra except a flight of Buddha Air in the evening were cancelled. A mountain flight took off from the airport only to be quickly diverted after no sign of improvement in the weather. Likewise, only few flights operated in Kathmandu-Pokhara- Kathmandu sector in the evening following improvement in the weather.

The many cancellation of flights caused disruption to the tourism industry as the tourist might have to cancel their trip if they have to wait for another week for scheduled flights.

Utsav Kharel,manager at the International Terminal Building of Tribhuwan International Airport said that a total of 50 domestic flights had to be cancelled on Wednesday due to VFR (Visual Flight Rules). International flights could operate as they were less likely to be affected as a pilot for an international airline could operate despite the poor visibility.

According to Vinaya Shakya, Senior Sales and Marketing Manager at Yeti Airlines, passengers especially in rural areas will have to wait for at least a week for flights to normally resume and the time of flights, at the moment, cannot be predicted as it depends on the availability of seats and flight schedules.