Flight operations at Nepal's Airport resume despite glitch

KATHMANDU - Flight operations - halted at Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport after a glitch - resumed on Saturday in a major relief to the travelers.

A TIA spokesperson, Teknath Sitaula confirmed that the manual method was in place now as the site problem prevailed. Although investigations are underway, initial reports say high traffic that originated from outside Nepal was the main cause for the glitch. 

As the halt prevailed earlier in the day, Chief of Tribhuvan International Airport, Prem Nath Thakur said it has been 'about an hour that we're attempting to resume the flights'. The official said immigration server was not working at that time. 

The suspension of International flights at Tribhuvan International Airport lasted from around 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. The essential tasks like examining the visa and passports online were adversely affected consequently leading to stalling of the flights from the TIA.

The incident comes weeks after Nepal witnessed one of its worst air crashes when a domestic Yeti Airlines flight crashed in Pokhara leaving to killing of 72 people.

The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft was approaching Pokhara International Airport in the Himalayan foothills. Unfortunately, the crash site is only about 1.6 km from the runway. The investigations are still underway.