Nepal Tribhuvan Airport Halts Flights After Power Failure

Flight operations at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu were temporarily suspended on Saturday following a major electrical problem that affected the runway lighting system. The issue, which began around 5:30 p.m., disrupted both domestic and international flights for several hours.

According to airport officials, the electrical fault caused the runway lights to go out, making it unsafe for aircraft to take off or land. The disruption led to the diversion of multiple flights while engineers worked to restore normal operations.

After more than four hours of intensive maintenance, the issue was resolved, and flight operations resumed around 10:00 p.m. local time. “After over four hours of maintenance work, the problem was fixed,” an airport staff member confirmed.

During the outage, two domestic and three international flights were diverted to alternate airports. Qatar Airways was redirected to Dhaka, Korean Air to Delhi, and Fly Dubai to Lucknow. Buddha Air’s two domestic flights were diverted to other regional airports within Nepal.

The airport authorities have not yet disclosed the exact cause of the electrical failure, but preliminary reports suggest it originated from the airfield lighting system — a crucial component that helps pilots land safely at night or in low visibility conditions.

Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal’s only international gateway, handles hundreds of daily flights and serves as a major hub connecting the country with the rest of the world. The temporary suspension caused significant inconvenience to passengers and disrupted several scheduled flights.

Operations have now returned to normal, with officials assuring that additional inspections will be carried out to prevent similar incidents in the future.