Hailstorm Closes Kathmandu Runway for About an Hour, Holds Eight Aircraft and Floods Domestic Terminal
Why It MattersA single-runway airport with no hail-clearing equipment turns a brief weather event into a full halt of arrivals and departures, with diversions spilling onto neighbouring Indian airports.
A sudden hailstorm forced Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu to halt all flights on the afternoon of Wednesday, 11 November, after thick hail covered the runway and taxiway at around 2 p.m. The runway was closed for roughly an hour, with one account putting the closure at about 55 minutes, beginning around 1:45 to 1:47 p.m. Airport spokesperson Sanjay Kumar said flights were stopped temporarily to keep take-offs and landings safe. About 1,500 metres of the runway had become slippery, according to eAarthik.
At least eight aircraft, four international and four domestic, were held in holding patterns in the air. Two aircraft ready to depart returned to the parking apron: a Buddha Air plane bound for Rajbiraj and a Thai Airways jet about to leave for Bangkok. Two incoming international flights were diverted to India: an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah went to Varanasi, and a flydubai flight from Dubai went to Lucknow.
TIA has no dedicated equipment to remove hail or snow from the runway, so Rescue and Fire Fighting trucks sprayed water to wash the hail off the paved surface. Once the runway was cleared, flights resumed under instrument flight rules.
Rainwater also leaked into the domestic terminal, pouring from the ceiling, including through light panels above the security screening area of the departure hall. Passengers with boarding passes struggled to leave the check-in area because of standing water. An official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) blamed the leak on a poor-quality roof and said staff were working to remove the water. The same terminal flooded in a similar way during last year's monsoon. TIA has only one runway, so a closure halts every arrival and departure.
