Kathmandu, November 3
For reasons best known to authorities at Tribhuvan International Airport, arrivals and departures have suffered delays. Passengers are bearing the brunt of delayed arrivals and departures.
Many passengers said flight schedules had suffered because airport authorities had to make preparations for visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s flights to Janakpur and Pokhara from the airport.
But Premnath Thakur, spokesperson for TIA, attributed all this to glitches in the airport’s radar. He said the glitches that developed on Wednesday evening had been causing much trouble to air traffic controllers. We had to maintain the distance between planes, so the flights got delayed, Thakur informed.
When radar goes haywire, it’s not possible to allow takeoffs and touchdowns at short intervals, Thakur explained, adding: Because of this, passengers have not been able to get service as mentioned in flight schedules. But we have not cancelled/diverted flights.
With flights not taking off on time, there’s a huge crowd of passengers at TIA.
Because of glitches, passengers, who arrived at the airport earlier than usual in view of possible delays on the road resulting from stepped-up security measures on Kathmandu Valley’s roads, are doubly furious. The glitches have affected both domestic and international flights.
People, who arrived at the airport to receive guests/relatives, have no option but to wait for hours for arrivals. Thakur said maintenance of radar is going on, adding that the repairwork will be over by Thursday evening itself.
On Wednesday, TIA had virtually shut for 50 minutes in course of the arrival of Mukherjeee, on security grounds, causing inconveniences to passengers.
