Nepal Unrest: What Indian Passengers And Tourists Should Know After Kathmandu Airport Shutdown

(MENAFN- Live Mint) For the last two days, Nepal has been on the boil, especially Kathmandu, where many protesters have been killed and things are not yet in control, even as a handful of ministers have resigned and what started as a demonstration against a ban on social media quickly turned into much larger protests.

Also Read: Nepal protest: Gen Z crackdown flares up again over social media ban, three ministers resign; 19 dead in violence

The protests have now taken a more severe turn with Kathmandu airport closed for operations. The largest airport in Nepal stopped operations without any warning with just a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. There is no formal NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) released even as flights continue to divert and hold in Indian skies.

What is happening?

Kathmandu, the largest airport in Nepal and serving the capital city, has been closed for operations, now allowing no landings as protests reach the airport area, as per unconfirmed reports. Since this was a last-minute decision, flights bound for Kathmandu have been on long hold over India before entering the valley. Kathmandu is considered one of the difficult-to-land airports and has seen its fair share of crashes in the past due to the terrain around the airport.

There were over 10 flights in the air when the airport was abruptly closed, with two of them being domestic flights in Nepal. Two Indian carriers were also flying towards Kathmandu, with Air India flying from Delhi and IndiGo from Mumbai. Air India is returning to Delhi, while IndiGo too is diverting to Delhi. IndiGo also had its Delhi-Kathmandu flight in the air, which diverted to Lucknow.

Flights from Qatar Airways, Flybai, Thai Lion, Thai AirAsia and Biman Bangladesh bound for Kathmandu are also forced to divert with Qatar Airways and Biman Bangladesh going back to origin, with every other carrier diverting to airports in India.

International diversion challenges

While diversions are standard, the diversion of an international flight leads to more challenges for both the airlines and the passengers. On both Air India and IndiGo flights, passengers who are connecting from other international destinations will not be allowed to move out of the airport if they do not have Indian visas. There could be a sizable number of such people on these flights. On the other hand, flights from Thailand or Dubai which divert to India have very limited chances of passengers having Indian visas. In such times, airlines and passengers both stare at a longer turnaround based on pilot Flight Duty Time Regulations as well as available ground infrastructure to support. It remains unclear when Kathmandu airport will open for operations.

India-Nepal connectivity

There are 104 weekly flights between India and Nepal, according to data shared by Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of these 104, as many as 84 flights a week are operated by Indian carriers. On a typical Tuesday, there are 15 flights between the two countries, with IndiGo operating a daily flight from Mumbai and thrice a day from Delhi, while Air India operates six times a day from Delhi. Air India Express and SpiceJet operate a daily flight each from Bengaluru and Delhi, respectively. None of the Indian carriers have their planes on the ground at Kathmandu airport, shows the data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

What next?

Kathmandu is one of the popular tourist destinations and is attractive for trekkers across the world. With Nepal being visa-free for Indians, it also is a quick gateway for Indians. How the ground situation evolves will dictate when the airport operations open up and what happens there after. If Bangladesh is an example to go by, air connectivity gets impacted after such protests. The India-Bangladesh connectivity is yet to get back to levels before the Sheikh Hasina government was overthrown in the street protests.

Both Air India and IndiGo have cancelled the rest of the flights today as per their website.

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