Royal’s exit bursts TIA seams

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, NOV 17 -
Given bad daylight along with the departure of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal via Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the country’s sole international airport, over 70 domestic flights were affected on Tuesday. One international flight -Silk Air- was diverted from the Nepali sky due to difficulty landing at TIA, its official said. Silk Air diverted to Lucknow.

On Tuesday, TIA opened at 10:30 am as opposed to its usual opening time of 6:30 am. TIA general manager Dinesh Shrestha said it was due to bad weather conditions. However, the departure of the Saudi Arabian prince also contributed to cancellations of domestic departures and holding up numbers of arrivals in the sky. Yeti Airline cancelled 10 flights while sister airline Tara Air cancelled 35 flights. Buddha Air’s 13 flights were affected while other airlines’ movements were cancelled, private air operators said. However, TIA permitted all the international flights.

Flight cancellation stranded large numbers of passengers. Domestic air operators said operating cost rose to massive level even as they had to face the wrath of passengers. “Passengers to Pokhara scheduled for 8:30 am departure today were flown at 4:10 pm,” the airlines source informed. Likewise, aircraft that were looking to land on TIA were also given ‘hold in air’ direction. Holding for more than 60 minutes forced numbers of aircraft to return when they started running out of fuel. “We were ordered to hold flights for more than 60 minutes in the air. Aircraft do not have adequate fuel to hold for long

periods. That compelled us to divert flights,” he added. “We are not prioritized as compared to the international flights,” said Pradip Shah, marketing manager of Yeti Airlines. Delay in domestic flights is not new for TIA. Passengers and aircraft face long delays in departure and arrivals when TIA sees VIP departures or arrivals.

A TIA source said they are betweeen the devil and deep sea due to limited infrastructure and resources. “If we prioritize domestic flights, we face international pressure concerning safety and security.” General manager Shrestha, however, pointed out that international airlines make their flights by instrument flight rules (IFR) system that allows pilots to fly through clouds. “International flights used IFR to operate.”