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At least 226 domestic flights have been canceled in a week due to the dust, fumes and pollution emitted by the fires, vehicles and factories covering the air route with thick winds. International flights landing in Kathmandu also had to 'hold' for 2 hours in the sky of Simra.
According to the Tribhuvan International Airport office, from Sunday 17th to 23rd Chait, 226 two-way domestic flights of 7 domestic airlines have been cancelled. According to the internal terminal office at Gouchar, Budha has canceled 62 flights, Yeti 58, Sri 40, Summit 22, Sita 16, Tara 18 and Nepal Airlines Corporation 10 in one week. The flight cancellation destinations are Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lukla, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Janakpur, Tumlingtar, Taplejung, Bhojpur, Phaplu, Biratnagar, Bhadrapur main airports. According to the
pilots, the sky from Pokhara to West Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj to East Bhairawa, Bharatpur, Kathmandu, Lukla to Bhadrapur is covered with polluted air. "After flying from Kathmandu, clear sky can be seen only after reaching 9,000 feet," said one of the captains of the ATR plane, "below that, there is a thick layer of smoke and dust." A flying ship must come down very low to see the ground surface.
Depending on the type and speed of the ships, the visibility of at least 1600 meters from the cockpit is required to land the ship with the help of equipment. Last Thursday, the visibility of Kathmandu airport dropped to 1200 meters. Because of this, three mountain flights carrying tourists could not land at Kathmandu airport. According to spokesperson Rinji Sherpa, the flight was 'diverted' to Bhairahawa and Pokhara. Later, when the weather improved, he returned to Kathmandu.
In normal conditions, the distance that the pilot can see from inside the ship (visibility) is 5 thousand meters, even if he does not rely on the equipment and devices available on the ground and on the ship. Most of the pilots have not been able to fly 'VFR' flight at Tribhuvan International Airport for the past few days due to heavy rain. Sherpa, spokesperson of Kathmandu Airport, said that although the flight is not stopped in the visibility of less than 5000 meters, the pilots are unable to fly with their eyes and have to use the IFR system with the help of the navigation devices on the plane and the airport.
According to Jagannath Niraula, General Manager of Kathmandu Airport, the schedule of international flights has also been affected due to the decrease in visibility. You could not make the ship take off and land on time. For at least half an hour to 2 hours, international flights are on hold in the sky over Simra. General manager Niraula said, "To clean this waste, there should be a big wind or rain. According to the current estimates, the waste is expected to increase and last longer." During the tourist season, airline operators have been earning dollar fare from flights in Pokhara, Jomsom and Lukla areas. However, due to the cancellation of flights at this time, airline companies are losing an average of 9 lakh per flight to tourist destinations in the Himalayan and hilly districts and 11 lakh rupees per flight on 'trunk route' (easy route), said Manoj Karki, president of Airline Operators Association.
In the previous year, flights were canceled due to polluted air, which affected only the airports in hilly and mountainous regions. But this time the 'trunk route' flights are also being cancelled. "In the previous year, flights were not canceled due to pollution mixed with cold, but this time due to pollution, flights were affected continuously," Karki said, "There is no experience of experiencing a week-long effect before." Even though it was cold, it was raining. But this time the airlines were hit directly. A good message has not gone abroad either.'
A representative of the Airline Operators Association met the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Badri Pandey on Saturday and demanded that Nepal should provide the compensation amount that Nepal receives from rich countries due to carbon emissions. "Even in the sky, there is a problem of burning the eyes of pilots and passengers in the cockpit," said Karki, president of the association, who is also the managing director of Summit Air. Tourists who are supposed to go to Everest and other areas are stranded due to lack of flights. We have demanded that developed countries give us the compensation provided in the carbon trade.'
