Tribhuvan International Airport was closed for nearly four hours on Saturday evening after the runway edge light broke down. Three international flights were diverted to India and Bangladesh during the closure. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Kathmandu Airport and on board the aircraft.

Korean Air from Seoul was on hold for almost two hours in the skies of Simara. Similarly, Qatar Airways from Doha was on hold for three hours and Fly Dubai from Dubai was on hold for more than an hour.

After the airport did not open despite being on hold for hours, Korean Air Delhi, Qatar Airways Dhaka and Fly Dubai Lucknow were diverted. SpiceJet, which was supposed to arrive from Delhi, India, had already canceled its flight. Dozens of planes and hundreds of passengers going out of the Kathmandu Valley and coming to Kathmandu were also stranded on domestic flights.

The runway's 'circuit' repair work was initially started from 3:30 to 4:30 in the afternoon and then again at 5:25 an hour later by stopping flights. Flights resumed only after the repair work was completed at 9:36 in the night. 

According to Kathmandu Airport General Manager Hansraj Pandey, the power supply to 'Edge-Lite' had been disrupted since 4 am on Saturday. Air traffic was aware that the power supply was disrupted when the tower was lit. Since there was sunlight throughout the day and the aircraft used the ‘VFR’ method for takeoff and landing, no serious problems arose until 5:30 pm.

But after dark, since the runway’s ‘lighting’ system is mandatory for both domestic and international flights to take off and land, the airport was closed and the ‘circuit’ was repaired. According to an engineer at the airport, the main underground line was damaged, and the line was bypassed and an alternative power system was installed, and the airport was reopened at 9:36 pm on Saturday.

According to him, the line could not pass through the white ‘edge-light’ on both sides of the runway, and technicians from home were also called in to begin repairs.

General Manager Pandey informed that there are many problems in the four ‘taxi-ways’ of the runways from north to south, from ‘Alpha Taxi-way’ to ‘Delta Taxi-way’, which help to bring the aircraft to the runway or to the parking lot. The width of the runway of Tribhuvan Airport is 45 meters and the length is 3350 meters. White lights are lit on both sides. However, these lights did not light up due to a ‘short circuit’. These lights help the aircraft to stay within the runway during ‘IFR’ flights at night and in bad weather.

‘There are many problems in the electrical circuit. Initially, it was seen that there was electricity ‘leakage’ due to water, and in some places, during the construction work being done for infrastructure expansion, dozers were digging, vibrators, etc., which caused electricity to leak. The details of what happened will be known only after the engineers study and submit a report,’ said Pandey. 

Two years ago, the airport was closed for about 2 hours when a problem occurred in the ‘VORDME’ circuit installed in Koteshwor.

To resolve the problem that appeared at 4 am, the Electromechanical Division at the airport office closed the runway from 3:30 pm on Saturday and started the repair work. ‘Notice to Airmen’ (NOTAM) was issued three times to inform that the airport was closed for repairs. The last ‘NOTAM’ was issued at 9:20 pm.