-SOLUKHUMBU
Air passengers have not been able to reach their destinations due to excessive wind at Phaplu Airport resulting cancellations.
Tara Airlines had canceled its flight on Monday. Likewise, Summit Air, Tara Air and Nepal Airlines has also canceled its flights to the airport following the same weather condition on Tuesday, stated Phaplu Airport chief Mr. Amrit Kumar Chaurasiya.
Phaplu Airport loacated at Sallery-2, Solukhumbu is one of the iconic airstrips of Nepal and features vibrant terrains, constantly changing weather and aggressive wind factor jointly inviting harsh circumstances for flight operations. The airport completes majority of flights by early morning due to the wind behaving vigorous at day time.
The weather instrument at the airport’s ATC (Air Traffic Controller) tower has recorded a maximum of 43 knots of gusting wind while the safe airspeed for aircraft in this airport is 10 to 12 knots. Especially, the airport encounters headwind.
Similarly another airport lying on the lap of Mt Everest and one of the worlds’ extreme airports; Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla has also experienced the excessive wind causing disruption for flight service.
On Tuesday, Sita Air, Summit Air and Tara Airlines had allocated altogether 12 flights for Lukla on the day but due to the vibrant wind on the airway the operators were only able to make 4 landing resulting cancelation of other flights, noted Lukla Airport chief Mr. Yogendra Kunwar. Even the Lukla Airport itself features vibrant terrains, constantly changing weather and difficult approach making it challenging for pilots to come and land there.
It has also been informed that hundreds of tourists and passengers are stuck in Lukla and Phaplu Airport.
