Delayed, the sign said and memories rushed back to Christmas nightmare

On Thursday, when the flight to Kathmandu and back resumed after the nightmare of December, the airport did not relive the memories of horror for long. Half-an-hour later, the weather improved and so did the mood of the people in the arrival lounge. Finally at 5.00 pm, when brilliant flashes of sunlight pierced the threatening clouds, the waiting relatives got their smiles back. The flight, which was scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 3.10 pm had finally landed at the IGIA at 4.40 pm.

"The flight was quite enjoyable apart from the brief disturbance because of the weather. The security was very tight and checks were carried out even before boarding the aircraft," says Pramod Oberoi, one of the first few passengers to come out of the arrival lounge. Oberoi added: "Such security arrangements are appreciable but they should be fast. Our flight got delayed because of these checks."

Devender Kumar, another passenger, was very excited. "It was great to have come by this flight," he said.

Were they a little apprehensive? "No, not all. In fact, I changed my Royal Nepal Airline flight to travel by this flight," said Dr N Panawala, who was on his way to the domestic terminal to catch a flight home to Mumbai. Though most passengers agreed on the security being tight, Sofain Grati, a Tunisian national, claimed that he came out of the lounge after being checked by the security personnel. "I came out of the security check area and went in again without much trouble," said Grati.

However, though the security arrangements at the IGIA were equally tight in the morning, the flight left on the scheduled time of 11.15 am. About 20 people were not allowed to board the plane as they did not have proper identification.

Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior Indian Airlines official said: "Since passports are not required to Kathmandu, passengers are required to have some conclusive proof of Indian identity. Those passengers, who did not have such identity cards, were stopped from boarding the aircraft. But we have adjusted their seats with another flight of Royal And Indian Airlines chose to fly the same aircraft – VT-EDW, the one which was hijacked on December 25, last year. Thursday’s flight was commanded by Capt A Mullick and co-piloted by Ashish Sarma.

Indian Airlines had stopped its service to Kathmandu following the hijack of IC-814 on December 25 last year. After what turned out to be the longest ever hijack in civil aviation history – December 25-31 – it was pointed out that the security arrangements at the Tribhuvan Airport in Nepal were not satisfactory.