Bad weather leads to flight cancellations
At least 55 domestic and one international flight were cancelled on Wednesday due to the poor visibility caused by dense fog at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
As the visibility started deteriorating from 11:00 am, Silk Air and Biman Bangladesh were forced to divert their flights to Banaras and Dhaka, respectively. Biman Bangladesh, however, landed later in the evening, while Silk cancelled its flight, according to a Terminal Duty Officer at TIA.
The visibility level at TIA was below the accepted level during 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Wednesday. There were 38 (incoming and outgoing international flights) scheduled before the visibility came to normal after 6:00 pm.
The visibility was at 5,000 metres at 9:45am, but deteriorated to 3,000 metres at 11:00am. “It then kept on fluctuating, allowing only a few aircraft to land,” TIA officials said. For big aircraft, the normal approach visibility on the ground should be at 3,200 metres, while for smaller planes, it should be at 1,600 metres.
As far as domestic flights are concerned, 55 scheduled flights were cancelled. Purna Chudal, chief at the domestic airport division of TIA, said flights to Pokhara, Simara, Bharatpur, Lukla, Tumlingtar, other remote sectors and Mountain View flights were affected.
According to Chudal, Yeti Airlines cancelled 24 flights, Buddha Air 17, Agni Air 14 and Guna Airlines cancelled one. On long-haul routes, flights to Dhangadi and Nepalgunj were partially affected, while flights to Biratnagar and Bhadrapur were not affected.
Yeti Airlines’ Duty Officer in Kathmandu, Sony Rai, said the bad weather affected the carrier’s 24 flights (12 of Yeti Airlines and 12 of its subsidiary Tara Air), particularly scheduled for the Western sector. Yeti also cancelled five Mountain View flights and five scheduled flights to Pokhara. Flights to Dhangadi and Tumlingtar were also cancelled. “All the flights to Pokhara were cancelled,” said Rai.
Normally, over 130 (one-way flights) are operated every day in the domestic sector in winter. The operation reaches to as high as 170 (one-way) during the tourist season.
Weather pundits said the western winds brought along a welcoming downpour with them across the country. The winds that entered through the Far-Western region on Tuesday evening reached the Far-Eastern region by Wednesday morning.
According to Rajendra Prasad Shrestha, senior meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division, the rain could continue for some more days. He said the Capital has seen 12.1 mm of rain until afternoon.
Posted on: 2012-02-09 09:51
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