India, Nepal to discuss resumption of IA flights on Monday

NEW DELHI, MARCH 25: India and Nepal will hold crucial talks on Monday to resume regular Indian Airlines (IA) flights to Kathmandu which w...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 25: India and Nepal will hold crucial talks on Monday to resume regular Indian Airlines (IA) flights to Kathmandu which were suspended after the hijacking of an aircraft in December last year.

Official sources here said that a three-member team of Civil Aviation Ministry officials would leave for Kathmandu on Monday to hold the negotiations which could pave the way for resumption of IA services to the Himalayan kingdom.

The sources said these talks "could be the final round" before the flights could re-start.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, a report from Kathmandu quoted Nepalese foreign minister Chakra Prasad Bastola as saying that IA would resume the flights "on a regular basis in the next two weeks".

An AFP report also quoted Nepal civil aviation ministry joint secretary Hari Bhakta Shrestha as saying, "We are holding talks on the resumption of IA flights from Monday to hopefully reach a final agreement."

IA had suspended its operations after the December 24 hijacking of its aircraft carrying 170 passengers by Pakistani militants.

The hijack drama had ended on December 31 after four Kashmiri militants were released from Indian prisons as demanded by the hijackers.

Story continues below this ad

Indian authorities at that time had blamed the hijacking on poor security at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport and had wanted to deploy their own security guards there. However, Nepal had not agreed to the demand.

The suspension had severely affected earnings of not only the Nepalese tourism industry, but also of the Indian Government as IA was a major carrier of tourists to that country. Indian Airlines had been flying about 1200 tourists each day to Kathmandu, mainly from Delhi and Calcutta.