Flight cancellations leave Taplejung passengers stranded

By Chandra Pandak,Taplejung, Jan. 19: Passengers were left stranded at Suketar Airport after the two flights scheduled to take off from here on Wednesday were cancelled. 

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Sita Air were scheduled to operate one flight each from Suketar to Kathmandu on Wednesday. 

However, thick fog and poor visibility forced the airlines to cancel their flights, leaving passengers on both sides – at Kathmandu and Suketar – stuck. Eight passengers were waiting to fly to Kathmandu from NAC while four were waiting to fly from Sita. Similarly, nine were waiting to come to Suketar from Kathmandu from NAC while 14 were waiting to fly via Sita.

Lokendra Limbu, Taplejung station in-charge for NAC, informed that the state carrier waited for over two hours for the weather to clear. But, because it did not, it was forced to cancel the flight.

Sita Air also waited an equally long time but was forced to cancel in the end due to bad weather, Shree Prasad Khadka, a representative for Sita Air, said.

Sita has not flown to Suketar since last year’s monsoon. Wednesday was supposed to be its first flight to the airport in more than five months. However, it got cancelled.

NAC operates three flights a week on the Kathmandu-Suketar route on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile, Sita is preparing to have three flights a week from Kathmandu to Suketar and one flight a week from Suketar to Bhadrapur.