UNPRECEDENTED CONGESTION AT TIA

KEDAR DAHAL

KATHMANDU, March 8

A total of 23,000 passengers have used the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the only international airport in Nepal, in 24 hours after it came back into operation after being shut down for four days.

A total of 110 flights have landed/taken off in the 24 hours after the TIA came back into operation at 9 pm Saturday. This is double of the normal flow of passengers. The TIA Office says more than 65 flights will land/take off even on Monday. 35 flights used to land and takeoff on normal days. The Airbus A330 of Turkish Airlines stuck at the runway since seven Wednesday morning was removed only at six Saturday evening. The congestion of Nepali sky that started on Saturday night continues till late Sunday. “The congestion occurred as the airline companies operated additional flights on top of regular flights to fly their stranded passengers,” Chief of the Terminal Management at TIA Tek Nath Sitaula says.

Over 48,000 passengers were stranded after the TIA was obstructed for four days. The TIA is struggling with pressure of airplanes and passengers after almost doubling the number of flights. “We will operate the TIA round the clock using all our efforts until Wednesday to reduce pressure of passengers,” he adds.

Planes flying to Kathmandu got to land at the TIA only after waiting in the Kathmandu sky for 40-60 minutes due to the congestion. This is the first time that a dozen flights had been on hold in the Nepali sky. Many flights had to be diverted to New Delhi and Lucknow due to the congestion. The Air Traffic Controller diverted an Air Arabia plane that was making rounds in the sky to Lucknow after getting signs that it was running out of fuel while an Air Asia flight was diverted to Kolkata. Over half a dozen domestic flights were cancelled as the congestion made handling of international flights difficult.

A total of 27 international airline companies and 14 domestic operate regular flights from the TIA. But the TIA cannot handle more than 1,200 passengers at a time while more than nine planes cannot be parked. The planes landing at the TIA were even kept on the taxiway for around 20 minutes in lack of parking space, according to the TIA Office.

Passengers throng offices of airline companies

The crowd of passengers was not limited just to the airport as offices of the general sales agent (GSA) and even contact offices faced unbearable pressure of passengers. The companies struggled to even deliver service due to the immense pressure of passengers coming for information on flight schedule to confirming and finding tickets. Passengers were seen to be spilling over to the streets in front of those offices.