“It has been about an hour that we’re attempting to resume the flights. The international service is halted as the immigration server is not working," the Chief of Tribhuvan International Airport, Prem Nath Thakur said.
The service disruption came days after a Yeti Airline plane crashed in Nepal's Pokhara, killing all 72 people on board. The victims also included five people from India. The crash has reintroduced the conservations around the safety of aviation operations in Nepal as in the last three decades around 52 flights have crashed in the country.
The topography of the nation is counted as one of the reasons for the complex aviation operations. Nepal is home to the world's 14 highest mountains including the highest Mount Everest. The complex geography makes it difficult to build accurate landing strips and the weather changes are also sudden, making flight operations more difficult.
Another problem is the rapid expansion of private airlines. In the aviation space, the country opened the private players very recently in 1992 and since then the airlines seem to be in a race to expand their fleet. But, the aviation infrastructure of Nepal has not seen a similar rise and is not able to keep up the pace with the expansion of flight services.
The aviation regulator of the country is constantly working for improvement and making the industry safer. Steps like building improvements at airports, upgrading safety equipment, and fostering a positive safety culture by encouraging hazard reporting have been taken, but the country should seriously consider equalizing the balance between expansion in the sector and the development of safe aviation infrastructure.
