Kathmandu, July 29

The captain of the flydubai flight, FZ 737, scheduled to fly to Dubai from Tribhuvan International Airport at 9:45 am today, was found to be intoxicated before he boarded the flight for take-off. Subsequently, the flight was suspended by TIA authorities.

After receiving a complaint from a flydubai staffer, TIA authorities, with the help of security officials, took Senior Captain of flydubai, Nadar Hussain, for a medical check-up, which revealed that he was drunk.

“One of the flydubai staffers informed us that Captain Hussain was drunk and we immediately took action as per the protocol,” Raj Kumar Chhetri, general manager of TIA, told THT. “Once the medical check-up confirmed that he was intoxicated we decided to suspend the flight and initiate action against him.”

Seeking anonymity, a senior Nepali captain told THT that flydubai and the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates would instantly suspend the pilot and initiate further action against him. “Most probably, the pilot’s flying licence will be revoked and he may have to serve prison time too.” “As far as I can recall, this is the first such incident on an international flight from Nepal,” he added. Chhetri said the medical report of the pilot had been forwarded to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

“The TIA office informed CAAN about the incident today. However, we do not have any authority to take action against foreign-licensed pilots,” said Rajan Pokharel, deputy director general of CAAN. According to Pokharel, CAAN has informed the General Civil Aviation Authority of UAE about today’s incident and has forwarded the medical report too.

“It is now up to the civil aviation authority of the UAE to take necessary action against him,” he added.

According to Chhetri, flydubai brought in other pilots on its next flight, which landed at TIA at 3:40 pm, and flew the passengers of the suspended flight at 7:20 pm. He added that the crew of the suspended flydubai flight flew to Dubai on its regular time at 4:30 pm.