Airport closed, flights cancelled

People stand on the runway outside the International Terminal after an earthquake hit the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu yesterday.QNA, IANS/Kathmandu/DelhiAirlines cancelled flights to Kathmandu after local authorities closed Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu following the devastating earthquake yesterday, around 80km away from the capital city. Qatar Airways cancelled two flights, QR 646 scheduled to leave from Hamad International Airport (HIA) Doha to Kathmandu yesterday at 07:55am, and QA flight QR650 leaving at 12.40pm, according to the flight status page on its website. Doha-based Nepal Airlines Corporation country manager Subhash Pradhan said, “Nepal Airlines has no flight to Kathmandu today. Flight RA240 from Doha to Kathmandu at 3:05am Monday is according to schedule.” India’s national carrier Air India put on hold two flights. “We run three flights to Kathmandu. The flight from Delhi this morning went as scheduled. Two flights from Delhi and Kolkata are on hold. We will run them as soon as we get a nod from the aviation authorities in Kathmandu,” an Air India spokesperson told PTI in New Delhi. Private carrier Jet Airways also cancelled flights from destinations in India to Kathmandu. In a statement yesterday, Jet Airways said, “Due to the closure of Kathmandu airport, our flight was diverted to Lucknow and would return to Mumbai. So the return flight from Kathmandu stands cancelled.” The airline said it has also cancelled its services on the New Delhi-Kathmandu-New Delhi sector. India’s other private airlines also put scheduled flights on hold. SpiceJet said they had been asked by Indian authorities to keep an aircraft ready to lift supplies from Delhi and bring back stranded passengers.An IndiGo flight for Nepal, which had left at 11:30am from New Delhi, had to be recalled and the departures of two others were suspended, official said. The flight of Nepalese carrier Buddha Air, bound for Varanasi, was among the eight flights that were called off.Officials also said an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah to Kathmandu was diverted to the Indian capital. An Indigo flight that had taken off from Delhi minutes before the quake was also called back.There were eight return flights scheduled between India and Nepal yesterday - five from New Delhi and one each from Mumbai, Kolkata and Varanasi. Four Indian carriers operating seven of these flights announced suspension of services to Kathmandu.Sources at Indira Gandhi International Airport said modifications will be made in the schedules once a clear picture emerges. “We are assessing the situation,” an official said.