Himalaya Airlines, Jazeera Airways, Kuwait Airways, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Qatar Airways and Nepal Airlines Corporation have reduced approximately 17 daily flights from Kathmandu.
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The joint military operation by the US and Israel on Iranian soil has had an impact on Tribhuvan International Airport. Kathmandu Airport spokesperson Satish Kumar Basnet said that international flight traffic and passenger numbers in Kathmandu have declined sharply since March 16, when nine Gulf countries closed their skies.
International flight traffic, which was stable in the previous days, has deteriorated since the day of the attack on Iran. On March 15, there were 106 international flights, including 54 departures and 52 arrivals, while on March 16, there were only 49 arrivals and 41 departures, including 90 departures. According to the airport, flight operations have declined by about 44 percent per day since Saturday. There have been no more than 74 international flights since March 16.
Passenger numbers also show a similar situation. On March 15, 16,902 two-way passenger movements were recorded from Kathmandu. Of these, 8,115 were departing from Kathmandu and 8,787 were arriving in Kathmandu. But since then, this number has been decreasing. On Thursday, 6,802 people flew in and out of Kathmandu Airport. This is about 60 percent less than a normal day.
Seven airlines, including Himalaya Airlines and Nepal Airlines Corporation, were operating flights to the Gulf region at Kathmandu Airport. But so far, only Fly Dubai has started a certain number of passenger rescue flights. The remaining Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways have not continued their flights to Nepal. Fly Dubai has also not continued its rescue flights.
Since the attack on Iran, the number of flights of major airlines operating on Kathmandu-Gulf and other routes around the world has also dropped significantly. According to flight tracking platform Flightradar, these flights, which were stable until February 27, decreased dramatically on February 28. According to the data, the number of Air Arabia flights decreased from 248 on February 15 to 84 on February 16. The number of Emirates Airlines flights decreased from 531 to 224. Etihad Airways flights were reduced from 334 to 90. Similarly, Fly Dubai, which operates three daily flights to Nepal, also reduced its flights from 343 to 108.
This disruption continued in the first week of March (after 17 Falgun). The number looks even more alarming after 1 March. Flightradar data shows that the total number of international flights of these four major Gulf carriers fell from 1,456 on 27 February to 506 on 28 February. Which is a decline of 65 percent. After 21 Falgun, the number of flights of these airlines gradually improved to 486. According to Flightradar, many flights operating on the Kathmandu-Gulf route were affected when the airspace in the Middle East was closed after the attack on Iran. Many airlines changed their flight routes or canceled flights.
Around 17 daily flights from Kathmandu by Himalaya Airlines, Jazeera Airways, Kuwait Airways, Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Qatar Airways and Nepal Airlines Corporation have been cut following the disruption. Foreign airlines have said that they have suspended many flights to the Middle East to protect non-military flights related to civil aviation in response to the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran.
