Bad weather disrupts flights at several airports; two international flights diverted
Bharatpur, Surkhet and Bhairahawa airports remain closed, while poor visibility and low cloud cover affect operations at Kathmandu airport. Three domestic airports remain closed, two international flights have been diverted to India, and poor visibility is disrupting operations at Kathmandu airport. Post file Photo
Bad weather disrupted flights at several airports across Nepal on Sunday morning, forcing the closure of Bharatpur, Surkhet and Bhairahawa airports and affecting take-offs and landings at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
As of 9am, the three airports remained closed because weather conditions along their flight routes were unsuitable for take-offs and landings, according to Tribhuvan International Airport.
Two international flights bound for Kathmandu were also diverted to India on Saturday night because of poor weather.
A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok was diverted to Kolkata. The aircraft, scheduled to land in Kathmandu at 11:25pm, had not returned to Nepal by Sunday morning.
An Air India flight from Delhi was diverted to Lucknow. It was scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu at 12:25am but had also not returned to Nepal by Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Lukla airport, which had remained closed on Friday and Saturday because of adverse weather, resumed operations on Sunday.
Operations at Kathmandu airport were also affected by fluctuating weather conditions. A Shree Airlines mountain sightseeing flight had to make a go-around, while two Buddha Air aircraft made missed approaches.
Multiple inbound flights execute holding loops around Kathmandu airspace.
Visibility at the airport dropped to 3,000 metres on Sunday morning from 4,000 metres earlier, airport spokesperson Sanjay Kumar said. The cloud ceiling, or the height of the lowest cloud layer, was 500 feet.
He said landings could be affected when the cloud ceiling falls below 1,500 feet.
Repeated changes in weather conditions have made aircraft approaches unstable. Flights are currently operating under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), which allow aircraft to navigate and land with the help of onboard instruments and ground-based systems when visibility is poor.
Under IFR procedures, international flights must maintain intervals of 10 to 12 minutes. Domestic departures generally require gaps of five to six minutes.
Kumar said aircraft must also maintain a separation of three to four minutes for traffic management after reaching an air traffic point 14 nautical miles from Kathmandu airport.
The airport had scheduled 144 domestic flight movements on Sunday, while international flights were expected to number around 100.
Suraj Kunwar is a senior correspondent with over two decades experience covering Aviation, Tourism and Mountaineering. He received the IFJ Tolerance Award in 2005.
20.73°C Kathmandu
