Kathmandu, April 12

Indian airline company, Jet Airways, which had cancelled all its international flights for yesterday and today, has called off all its regular flights to Kathmandu till May 5.

According to officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Jet Airways has sent a letter to the TIA authority informing about the flight halt till the given date. “The airline company has mentioned that the regular flights have been cancelled due to ‘operational’ reasons,” informed Rajkumar Chhetri, general manager of TIA.

Representatives of Jet Airways in Kathmandu were unavailable for comment.

Of 29 different international airline companies operating flights to and from Kathmandu, Jet Airways had been operating two flights everyday in Nepal (Kathmandu-Delhi and Delhi-Kathmandu). As per Chhetri, though Jet Airways had been operating four flights regularly to Kathmandu few months ago, the airlines had reduced the number of its regular flights to Kathmandu in the recent weeks.

Issuing a statement on Thursday, the debt-ridden Jet Airways had cancelled all west-bound long-haul international flights till today, including flights to London, Paris and Amsterdam, reported Indian media. Moreover, the airline company had also cancelled three domestic flights due to operational reasons till today and initiated refunds for the guests whose flights had been cancelled.

Indian media reported that the airline owes more than INR 35 billion to passengers on account of flight cancellations alone.

Jet Airways’ cancellation of international flights has come at a time the airline company is on the verge of being barred from operating international flights as its operational fleet has come down to 14 while any Indian airline needs a minimum of 20 aircraft to be able to fly on international routes.

Following cancellation of all international flights by Jet Airways, Indian Union Minister Suresh Prabhu today directed the Civil Aviation Ministry to review issues related to the debt-ridden Jet Airways and take required steps to minimise passenger inconvenience.