The effects of the ash plume generated by the eruption of Ethiopia's Haile Gebi volcano have been seen as far away as Kathmandu.
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At least seven international airline flights to Nepal were affected on Tuesday and Wednesday due to volcanic ash that seriously damaged aircraft engines in the sky. According to Tribhuvan International Airport, a Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific widebody that was scheduled to land in Nepal on Tuesday night was unable to land due to small particles that seriously damaged aircraft on the air route following the volcano that erupted in Ethiopia on Sunday.
According to Kathmandu Airport General Manager Hansraj Pandey, the Cathay Pacific flight, which was about to land, had returned to Hong Kong via Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, from the skies above Simara.
309 passengers who had already received boarding passes for Hong Kong from that flight were accommodated in various hotels in Kathmandu. Meanwhile, four Qatar Airways flights were delayed on Tuesday, leaving at least 1,000 passengers unable to reach their destinations on time.
According to an official at Qatar's Kathmandu office, the Qatari flight that was supposed to return to Doha at 10 am on Tuesday was delayed by 16 hours and arrived at 2:45 pm, the flight that was supposed to return at 11 am was delayed by 16 hours, the flight that was supposed to return at 5 pm on Tuesday was delayed by 11 hours and arrived at 4:45 am, and the flight that was supposed to return at 7 pm was delayed by 11 hours at Kathmandu Airport and left for Doha at 6 am.
Meanwhile, Korean Air had canceled flights from Korea to Nepal on Tuesday, citing mineral particles, rock fragments, and sharp particles that would affect flights.
Kathmandu Airport has stated that the ash mixed with volcanic dust that had been affecting aircraft arriving in Nepali airspace since Wednesday night has cleared. According to Qatar Airways, the gaseous cloud that could affect aircraft sensors and engines moved towards China's atmosphere after 12 midnight on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, flights to and from airports in India and the Gulf on western routes from Kathmandu were diverted. After two Qatari wide-body aircraft failed to take off in the afternoon and stopped on the parking lot, Kathmandu Airport had difficulty managing aircraft on the apron. Therefore, many aircraft had to be placed on hold in the sky above Simara and flights had to be managed.
According to Triratna Manandhar, former Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, 15 years ago (2010) when a volcanic eruption in Iceland disrupted flight routes to Europe, dozens of Nepali flights were canceled and the Tourism Board had to rescue stranded tourists.
The ash cloud generated by the eruption of Ethiopia's Hailey Gabbi volcano has reached Kathmandu.
