Passengers are seen at Nepal’s only international airport, the Tribhuwan International Airport, after it resumed services to all incoming and outgoing international flights, yesterday.
DPA
Kathmandu
Flights resumed in Nepal’s only international airport after four days of shutdown yesterday, as controllers struggled to deal with incoming air traffic, authorities said.
“For the next few days, we’ll be operating around 100 flights a day” with an average 175 passengers each, said Teknath Sitaula, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, up from the normal 70 to 80 flights daily.
As the passenger numbers piled up, the airport authorities decided to provide 24-hour service until March 11.
All flights to and from Tribhuvan International Airport were halted on Wednesday after an Airbus A330 operated by Turkish Airlines burst a tyre on landing and got stuck at the edge of the runway.
No one was injured but specialist equipment had to be brought it from India to tow the plane clear late Saturday.
The Nepal Airlines Airbus A320 was the first flight yesterday to be cleared for takeoff on its Kathmandu-Delhi route. The plane left for Delhi at 10.22pm. The airport authorities issued an all-clear an hour after the Turkish aircraft was finally towed away to the domestic parking area at 7.30pm on Saturday.
The rescue team toiled for more than 50 hours to move it from the runway, according to Birendra Kumar, general
manager, airport.
“After checking all necessary systems, we issued flying permission to the airmen,” he said.
The airport authorities said that around 1,000 people were deployed to retrieve the
disabled plane.
An estimated 50,000 travellers were stranded at Kathmandu
airport since Wednesday.
“We are ready to permit additional flights for international airlines if they need them to handle the rush,” Kumar said.
The authorities said the work to relocate the disabled aircraft would not have been possible if the Indian and Turkish teams had not arrived here to help
out in the operation.