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Kathmandu, November 9: After a technical problem occurred in the runway lighting system (Airfield Lighting System) at Tribhuvan International Airport, both domestic and international flights were halted for four hours. The flight operations, which had been suspended around 6:00 p.m., resumed around 10:00 p.m. According to airport spokesperson Rinji Sherpa, a Notice for Airmen (NOTAM) was issued after a malfunction in the runway’s airfield lighting system, and operations resumed once maintenance was completed.

On Saturday evening, as the sun set in Kathmandu, the runway became dark, disrupting more than a dozen domestic and international flights. Since 5:16 p.m., the airport has been operating flights based on instrument-based technology. When aircraft could not land in Kathmandu, a Qatar Airways flight circled in the Kathmandu sky for nearly two hours before diverting to Dhaka, Bangladesh. FlyDubai’s aircraft was diverted to Lucknow, India, while Korean Air’s plane was redirected to New Delhi.

The runway lighting system includes centerline and edge lights, along with approach lights that assist aircraft during takeoff and landing. According to the airport’s General Manager, Hanshraj Pandey, while Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flights — those conducted by sight — were operating during the day, the failure of lights required for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations, which are technology-based and necessary at night, caused the disruption. “When the lighting system that helps aircraft land and take off safely at night or in low visibility faced a malfunction, instrument-based flights were disrupted for about four hours,” he said.

Currently, Nepal has three operational international airports. However, when aircraft cannot land at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, they are still forced to divert to India or return to their original destination. Since the airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara have not yet become functional alternatives to Kathmandu, flights continue to be diverted to India instead of landing there. The same situation occurred again on Saturday.

In the past, when Nepal had only one international airport, aircraft unable to land in Kathmandu would divert to Patna or Lucknow in India. Even now, despite having three airports ready for operation, the problem remains the same. Pilots are required to specify an alternate airport before departure, but foreign airlines do not list other Nepali airports as alternatives — partly because aviation fuel in Nepal is expensive — so they continue to divert to India, according to a Civil Aviation Authority official. He added that foreign airlines should be required to designate Bhairahawa or Pokhara as alternate airports. However, the Authority stated that under current regulations, airlines cannot be compelled to use those airports as mandatory alternate landing sites.

People’s News Monitoring Service.