According to the airport's assistant spokesperson and chief air traffic controller, Devendra Prasad Shrestha, some domestic flights, including three international ones, had to be diverted due to poor visibility on the air route entering Kathmandu.
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Three international flights were diverted on Sunday morning after they were unable to land at Tribhuvan International Airport due to bad weather and poor visibility.
This has affected nearly 600 passengers and there is excessive congestion inside the airport.
A Turkish Airlines wide-body plane coming from Istanbul to Kathmandu has been diverted to Delhi, India. Similarly, an Air China plane coming from Chengdu has returned to Lhasa, while a Sichuan Airlines narrow-body plane has also returned to Chengdu.
Passengers traveling to various destinations on these flights were in the process of completing the check-in process and entering the sterile hall. However, after the flights were affected, the crowd of passengers inside the airport has increased significantly, said an airline employee.
According to Devendra Prasad Shrestha, assistant spokesperson and chief air traffic controller of the airport, some domestic flights, including three international flights, had to be diverted due to poor visibility on the air route entering Kathmandu. "The weather was getting worse after 7 am on Sunday, due to which visibility dropped to about 1,600 meters," he said.
Kathmandu Airport uses two main systems for landing in bad weather - VOR/DME and satellite-based RNP-AR. According to Shrestha, at least 1,600 meters of visibility is required for VOR/DME approaches and 1,100 meters for RNP-AR.
Meanwhile, the airport said that visibility improved to about 2,500 meters after 11:30 am and the weather is gradually becoming favorable.
According to the airport, although flights were affected, takeoffs are taking place normally. Currently, about 90 international and at least 250 domestic flights are operating in Kathmandu daily. Nearly 25,000 passengers travel through both terminals daily.
