The government has set up an inquiry committee to look into the issue of a flight boarded by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli that was told to hold in the skies for nearly 10 minutes before landing at the Kathmandu airport on Tuesday evening.

The five-member committee, formed under Joint-secretary at the Tourism Ministry Suresh Acharya, has been tasked with finding out a cause of “security lapses” of the VVIP movement. It has been given seven days to prepare a report and recommend action against those involved in the security lapses.

The Yeti Airlines flight from Bhadrapur, with Prime Minister Oli among the passengers on board, was forced to make three circles over the skies before landing at the Kathmandu airport due to air traffic congestion.

Confirming the launching of an inquiry on the matter, Acharya said there were getting conflicting statements from the airports, Kathmandu’s air traffic controller and the flight crew.

“We have been informed that the pilot had communicated with the Kathmandu tower, saying that they had the prime minister onboard the flight,” he said.

The tower officials reported that they were not provided with the VVIP flight plan.

“It also appears that the airport officials knew the VVIP movement but they did not conveyed the information to the Kathmandu’s tower,” said Acharya, adding that they would look into all the matters, including the communications between the air traffic controller and the pilot. “We cannot immediately say where the lapses were and who were responsible.”

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal lamented that the airline did not submit its VVIP flight plan which led to “security lapses” on the prime minister boarded flight. Normally, in the international sector, the flight crew are informed of any VVIP movement and such flights are accorded landing and take-off priorities accordingly. But in the domestic sector, the airline company has to submit its flight plan to the civil aviation authority with a description of the VVIP movement.