Flight operations halted at Kathmandu airport due to dense fog, power outage

Flight operations in Nepal's sole international airport were halted due to thick fog and power outage on Friday. Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu saw the cancellation of flights because of dense fog that slumped the visibility to 1200 metres and affected flight operations in the Himalayan country. Several domestic flights were also disrupted due to poor visibility while international flight operations were delayed further. 

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Dense fog in Nepal halts flight operations

Nepal's Kathmandu recorded its coldest day of the year on December 28 when the temperature plummeted to 0.6 degrees Celcius. The capital city was covered by a thick blanket of fog for the past few days which affected the visibility in the region. Thick fog in Nepal has always affected the movement of flights to and from other countries and domestically as well, especially during winter. Nepal's Kathmandu airport is one of the most dangerous to land on in the world and thick fog can make the operations even more difficult. 

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In 2018, 49 people were killed after a Bangladeshi airline plane carrying 71 passengers crash-landed at Nepal's Kathmandu airport. The plane was flying from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to Nepal's Kathmandu. The crash was the deadliest since a Pakistan International Airlines plane crashed in September 1992, killing all 167 onboard. Accidents at Nepal's sole international airport are common during winter when the capital is covered under fog and the visibility is all-time low. 

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In March 2015, a Turkish Airlines flight skidded after overshooting a runway amid dense fog in Nepal, forcing staff to evacuate the plane. The aircraft was carrying 224 passengers from Istanbul to Kathmandu when the accident happened at Tribhuvan International Airport. Passengers suffered minor injuries, but no one was seriously injured, said an official of Turkish airline. 

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