A minimum of 1,600 meters of visibility is required for large jet aircraft to land in Kathmandu. On Saturday afternoon, visibility fell below 2,000 meters and there was a problem in landing due to bad weather on the route from Simra to Kathmandu, the airport said.
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Seven international jets have been diverted to alternative airports after visibility decreased. Planes could not land at Tribhuvan International Airport due to low visibility.
At around 2 pm, the Indigo Airlines flight from Mumbai made two attempts to land but was unsuccessful and finally diverted to Lucknow, according to the airport.
Similarly, China Eastern Airlines flight from Kunming to Dhaka, Thai Air Asia flight from Thailand to Lucknow, and Nepal Airlines Corporation (Nepal Airlines) flight from Narita, Japan have been diverted to Delhi.
Two flights of Air India and IndiGo, which were coming from Delhi to Kathmandu, returned to Delhi due to lack of visibility.
Similarly, an Air Arabia flight from Abu Dhabi has been diverted to Banarasi.
According to Hansraj Pandey, the general manager of the airport, the widebody plane of Nepal Airlines Corporation tried to land through the Simra route as a last ditch effort, but could not. "Difficulty in landing is due to excessive turbulence in the Simra Corridor," said Pandey, "Currently two Qatar Airways planes are on hold in the sky of Gorakhpur, while three are not trying to land."
Large jets need at least 1,600 meters of visibility to land in Kathmandu. On Saturday afternoon, the visibility dropped below 2,000 meters and the airport reported that there was a problem in landing due to bad weather on the route from Simra to Kathmandu.
However, departing flights from Kathmandu have not been disrupted. Meanwhile, all domestic flights have been suspended after 8:30 am. On Saturday, 290 flights were scheduled in both directions, but due to the weather, more than a dozen flights could not take place. Seven planes are stopped outside Kathmandu.
