Kathmandu: Due to heavy monsoon rains, seventy-four domestic flights have been canceled on Sunday. According to Tribhuvan International Airport spokesperson Subhas Jhaka, starting from 7 PM in the evening, a total of 74 flights under various routes including Kathmandu to Bhadrapur, Tumlingtar, Viratnagar, Simara, Bharatpur, Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Surkhet, and Dhangadhi have been canceled.

Similarly, flights scheduled from Kathmandu to Lukla, Bhojpur, and Rukum in the Himalayan region have also been canceled. Among the internal flights, Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines, Shree Airlines, Tara Air, Surya Airlines, and Nepal Airlines Corporation had already informed the airport about the cancellation of a total of 224 flights for Sunday.

Among them, 74 flights were canceled on both sides due to unfavorable weather conditions in Khamti. The spokesperson mentioned, ‘Due to the expected internal flights till 10 PM on Sunday, the actual status of flights that will operate or not operate at night will only be confirmed on Monday morning.’

As per the airport authorities, Buddha Air canceled 44 flights, Yeti Airlines 10, Shree Airlines 6, Tara Airlines 4, Surya Airlines 4, and Nepal Airlines Corporation canceled 6 flights. In addition to this, flights from Nepalgunj to Sudurpaschim and Karnali provinces were not possible on Sunday. Suresh Khanal, the chief of Nepalgunj Airport, stated that Summit Air, Sita Air, and Tara Air have five small aircraft placed in Nepalgunj to fly to Simikot, Durgam, and Himali regions. Khanal said, ‘Due to the bad weather in air routes and airports, flights to Pahadi Durgam could not be conducted.’ Under normal conditions, around two dozen flights were operated from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Durgam districts.

Additionally, due to heavy rains, four international flights to and from Kathmandu were also affected on Sunday. According to Tribhuvan International Airport spokesperson Suvas Jhaka, the aircraft of Air China from Chengdu could not land in Kathmandu due to poor weather conditions, and it had to return from Chendu itself. Similarly, the aircraft of Sichuan Airlines, which arrived in Nepal, could not land in Kathmandu and had to return from within Nepal. The flight from Druk Air, which was supposed to come from Bhutan, was also canceled from Delhi due to heavy rains, causing it to return to Varanasi. According to Tribhuvan International Airport, during the monsoon, around 200 domestic and 80 international flights are expected to be affected on a daily basis.”