M A I N   N E W S

IA resumes flights to Nepal

NEW DELHI, June 1 (PTI, UNI) — An Indian Airlines plane, on resumption of flights to and from Kathmandu after a five-month suspension following hijacking of a plane to Kandahar, landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport this evening.

The return flight IC-814 carrying 131 passengers on board touched the IGI Airport at 1640 hours, an airlines spokesperson said here.

Chairman and Managing Director of the Indian Airlines Sunil Arora, who was on the flight, appreciated the security measures taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

“I am extremely happy on the resumption of Indian Airlines flights to and from Nepal,” he said.

Mr Arora also expressed hope that flights from Varanasi would be resumed shortly and said “Our flights from New Delhi and Calcutta are being resumed with immediate effect.”

The CMD also expressed a desire to work closely with the government of Nepal and the private sector to further promote tourism in the Himalayan kingdom.

Earlier, IA flight to the Himalayan tourist destination took off from here at 11.15 am with 161 passengers on board.

IA formally announced resumption of its daily flights from Delhi and five flights a week from Calcutta from June one after India and Nepal entered into an agreement during the visit of Nepalese Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola to Delhi last month.

The service was resumed after Nepal assured India of full security at Tribhuvan airport.

Under the agreement that followed after prolonged negotiations between the two countries, the Nepalese authorities have accepted the demand of IA for installation of an additional X-ray machine as well as a final check by Indian security personnel at Kathmandu Airport.

This would be in addition to the security drill for passengers carried out by Nepalese authorities, the officials said.

While the plane was the same, the Commander on it was different with Capt A. Mullick taking out today’s flight. Capt Devi Sharan, who was the Commander of IC-814 when it was hijacked, is still in the USA, having gone there to receive the Safe Skies Award of the World Development Council.

It was yet not known whether any ‘sky marshals’ were aboard the flight. Airline sources said if at all they were on the flight they would be travelling incognito or else the very purpose of having commandos on board would be defeated.