Nepal airport resumes operations after 84-hour break

Four days after the Turkish Airlines A330 skidded off the runway and a 84-hour hiatus, the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Nepal's only international airport resumed normal operations on Saturday evening.

Thousands of people were left stranded as all international flights in and out of the country were suspended.

Over 30 international flights have landed as of Sunday morning after the airport resumed services, the flight authorities said, adding that they would continue round-the-clock service for five more days to clear all the halted services.

The Nepal Airlines Airbus A320 was the first flight to be cleared for takeoff on its Kathmandu-Delhi route. The plane left for Delhi at 10.22 p.m. The TIA authority issued an all-clear an hour after the Turkish aircraft was finally towed away to the domestic parking area at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday.

The rescue team toiled for more than 50 hours to move it from the runway, according to Birendra Kumar Shrestha, TIA general manager.

"After checking all necessary systems, we issued flying permission to the airmen," he said.

The airport authority said that around 1,000 people were deployed to retrieve the disabled plane.

An estimated 50,000 travellers were stranded at Kathmandu airport since Wednesday.

Twenty-nine international airlines operate around 80 daily flights in and out of the TIA. As the passenger numbers piled up, the TIA decided to provide 24-hour service until March 11.

"We are ready to permit additional flights for international airlines if they need them to handle the rush," Shrestha informed the media.

The airport authority said the work to relocate the disabled aircraft would not have been possible if the Indian and Turkish teams had not arrived here to help out in the operation.