SANGAM

PM flight, power cut cause flight delay

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, DEC 27 - Passengers were delayed for more than five hours and international flights kept waiting for a landing signal, as Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal's departure to Beijing and an hour-long power failure at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) halted all activities on Saturday.

TIA authorities directed afternoon airlines operations to remain on hold, citing VIP escorting. "I was supposed to land in the morning but when I reached home, it was four in the evening," said former Additional Inspector General of Police, Keshav Baral, who took a Biratnagar-Kathmandu Buddha Air flight.

According to a TIA official, such delays are usual for VIP movement.

Sunita Bhandari, airport in-charge of Yeti Airlines said "Delays in flights during VIP movements is common. The airport's failure to expand its parking space has created more problems in the recent times, as more domestic and international airlines are being allowed to operate. There was no space left in the domestic section today due to a huge number of passengers awaiting their departure."

Yeti and Buddha Air were forced to cancel their 30 of their scheduled flights to Bhadrapur and Pokhara. Another 30 Buddha Air flights were delayed, according to Rupesh Joshi, marketing manager at Buddha Air. Meanwhile, Bahrain Air and Nepal Airlines aircraft were told to hold in the sky for nearly two hours.

TIA also had a 50-minute power cut at 6 p.m. Airline operators said that the power failure is what caused the delays in the evening flights. "Our flight to Nepalgunj was delayed by an hour due to the power cut," added Joshi. According to a TIA source, some aircrafts were also forced to make critical landings, due to the power cut.

However, the TIA management stated that the delay was due to bad weather. Only China Air was delayed due to the prime minister's departure to Beijing, TIA management maintained.

"We managed to adjust all the flights," said Dinesh Shrestha, Director General of TIA. Shrestha added that flights were allowed to operate even during the 'No Time Hour', when no landings or take offs are normally allowed.