• Nepal Airlines Corporation did not bother to provide either accommodation or food to passengers

Kathmandu, April 14 The mismanagement of Nepal Airlines Corporation left 157 passengers stranded at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, last night. After the Kathmandu-bound flight from Bangalore was diverted to Delhi, passengers had to suffer the entire night at IGI Airport. The plane was being flown by NAC’s senior captain Shyam Krishna Dhewaju. The affected passengers have accused NAC of leaving them stranded at Delhi airport. “At first they informed us that the flight was on hold due to bad weather. However, after an hour they said the flight had to be diverted as they were unable to land the aircraft at Tribhuvan International Airport,” said a passenger seeking anonymity. As the corporation did not manage accommodation for passengers they were left stranded at the airport the whole night. According to the passenger, they were left on their own at the airport lounge in a very mismanaged way. “After we landed there, they asked us to settle down at the airport lounge and distributed meal coupons informing us that we would have to wait till the morning,” the passenger added. The diverted flight arrived at TIA today morning. As per international practice of airline companies, the national flag carrier was supposed to manage accommodation with meals for passengers in case of flight cancellation or if a flight was diverted. However, NAC did not bother to provide either accommodation or food to the passengers. Prior to this incident, when a Dubai-bound flight was cancelled on April 2, the corporation had been criticised for not managing the situation in a proper manner. “We spent the whole night sleeping at the airport lounge and everyone was furious,” the passenger said. According to the NAC office based in the airport, the aircraft was put on hold for around one hour. After that they decided to divert the flight as the notice to airmen (NOTAM) was about to begin. However, the passenger said, “Even after holding the aircraft for around one hour they still had 20 more minutes to land at TIA, but they decided to divert the flight to Delhi.” The flight was scheduled to land at TIA at 8:40pm. Meanwhile, Navaraj Koirala, joint spokesperson for Nepal Airlines Corporation, claimed that the passengers were provided accommodation in transit hotels and provided dinner and breakfast.