NEW DELHI – Indian airlines have started flying scheduled and extra flights to Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The airport reopened on Wednesday after being closed on Tuesday because of rising civil unrest and violence in the country. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India, and IndiGo all worked together to get hundreds of passengers who were stuck in Nepal to safety.
Officials who know about the situation say that the civil aviation ministry met with IndiGo and Air India for an hour to organize the rescue mission. Because of this, an Air India flight was set to leave for Kathmandu on Wednesday night to make sure that passengers who had been stranded at the airport overnight could get home as soon as possible.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu verified the news on X, saying that the aviation industry is dedicated to helping its customers. “Many people who were going home couldn’t get back from Kathmandu since the airport was closed in Nepal. Naidu said, “With the airport in Kathmandu now open, @MoCA_GoI has worked with Air India and IndiGo to add more flights tonight and over the next few days, in addition to the scheduled services that will start up again tomorrow.” He also told airlines to keep their prices at a “reasonable level” so they don’t take advantage of people amid the crisis.
Sources said that most of the Indian passengers who are stuck are from the states of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Some Indian states are also planning to run charter flights to help in the rescue attempts. Air India flight 221 was the first extra flight. It was supposed to leave Delhi at 8:30 pm on Wednesday and land in Kathmandu around 10:20 pm local time. Flights that were planned to leave would start up again on Thursday morning.
It was hard to reopen the airport since the military had to escort ground staff and airline workers to the airport to keep them safe.
Air India also confirmed its special flights and the return of its regular operations in a statement on X. The airline told passengers to check the status of their flights before going to the airport and gave them the phone number for its 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week Call Center for more help.
The airport closed after a lot of protests against the government, mostly by young people, turned violent and made Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli quit. The protests started when the government banned some social media sites, but they grew into a bigger movement against corruption. To stop more violence, the Nepalese Army has put a curfew in place. This has allowed things to return to normal for a short time, which has allowed air travel to start up again.