Int'l airlines reschedule flights

KATHMANDU, Nov 25:

International airlines flying to Nepal have rescheduled their flights for Tuesday as requested by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

The aviation regulator had requested international airlines to reschedule their flights considering the arrivals of VVIPs for 18th SAARC Summit to be held in Kathmandu on November 26 and 27.

Though all the international airlines have rescheduled their flights, flights of Indian carriers will remain unchanged. However, Airlines Operator´s Committee-Nepal (AOC-N) has requested all the airlines to be prepared for an hour-long holding pattern.“

"All the Indian carriers will be arriving on the scheduled time. However, if the arrival coincides with the arrival of VVIPs, the aircraft will have to wait on a holding pattern," Bharat Kumar Shrestha, chairman of AOC-N, said.

According to the committee, AirAsia will operate its flight after midnight. It will arrive at around 12:30 am and leave at 1:30 am. Likewise, Oman Air will arrive at 4:30 am and leave at 9 am. Turkish Airlines will arrive before 5 am and leave in its scheduled time. Similarly, Thai airways will arrive at 5:30 am fly back at 7:30 am.

Birendra Prasad Shrestha, acting general manager of TIA, said the flights of Silk Air, Druk Air and Biman Bangladesh will remain unaffected as VVIPs are arriving via their regular flights. "We have worked out the best possible way to minimize loss to the airlines. As there is a gap of up to two hours between some arrivals, we have allowed the airlines to operate their flights at such interva”s," said Shrestha.

Flights after 6 pm, however, will remain unaffected as all VVIP flights would have landed at TIA by then.

TIA will operate round the clock from Tuesday to Friday for better management of flights during the SAARC Summit.

As per the schedule, VVIPs from Sri Lanka will arrive at 9:30 am, Afghanistan at 10:45 am, Bhutan at 11:45 am, the Maldives at 12:05 pm, India from 3pm to 3:30 pm, Pakistan at 3:35 pm and Bangladesh at around 4:15 pm.

Source: Republica