Chaos at Bengaluru airport as Kathmandu-bound Air India Express flight passengers stranded for 30 hours
Chaos ensued at the Bengaluru Airport as passengers on an Air India Express flight to Nepal faced an 30-hour wait due to severe weather conditions in Kathmandu.
Chaos broke out at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru on Friday after passengers headed to Nepal were left waiting for more than 18 hours after their Air India Express flight was diverted twice because of bad weather in Kathmandu.
Passengers protested the delay and voiced their frustrations over inadequate arrangements by the airline. (Reuters)
Frustrated travellers gathered near the immigration area and held a protest, shouting slogans against the airline and refusing to move. Around 40 passengers were Kannada-speaking, most of them part of a group tour to Nepal, news agency PTI reported.
The flight had taken off from Bengaluru at around 10:30 am on Thursday and was expected to reach Kathmandu by 1:25 pm. However, poor visibility forced the aircraft to divert first to Varanasi. When conditions did not improve, the flight was diverted again, this time to Lucknow, the report stated.
Passengers complained that arrangements during the delay were inadequate. They were made to wait inside the aircraft for a total of more than 30 hours, said a passenger, while another claimed they suffered financial losses due to the delays.
An Air India Express spokesperson confirmed that the diversions were caused by adverse weather conditions in Kathmandu and expressed regret for the inconvenience caused. The airline said affected passengers were provided hotel accommodation and offered either free rescheduling or full refunds. A special recovery flight has been scheduled for Saturday to clear the backlog, the spokesperson added.
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"Due to adverse weather in Kathmandu, our Bengaluru-Kathmandu flights on 26 and 27 February were diverted. An additional flight operated today to recover guests from yesterday’s disrupted service was also diverted for the same reason... An additional recovery flight is planned tomorrow to accommodate these guests," the spokesperson said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Yamini CS is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times with nearly six years of experience in digital journalism. She is part of the India News desk, where she works on a wide range of stories cutting across civic issues, city-based developments, politics, governance, public policy, breaking news, trending topics, and international affairs that have an impact on India. Her role involves tracking fast-moving developments, verifying information from official and on-ground sources, and presenting news in a clear, accessible format for a digital-first audience. A significant part of her work includes handling live blogs during major news events, such as elections, court verdicts, political developments, civic disruptions, protests, weather-related alerts, and unfolding national or international incidents. Through live coverage, she focuses on timely updates to help readers follow complex stories as they evolve. Before moving to the broader India News desk, Yamini was associated with the Bengaluru desk at Hindustan Times, where she extensively covered urban governance, infrastructure, traffic and transport issues, weather events, public grievances, and civic administration in the city. This experience strengthened her grounding in city reporting and sharpened her focus on citizen-centric journalism. She began her career as a correspondent with Reuters after completing a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media. Her early training instilled a strong emphasis on accuracy, sourcing, and news ethics, which continue to shape her reporting style. Outside of work, Yamini enjoys reading across genres, listening to music, and spending time with her family, which help her maintain balance in a fast-paced newsroom environment.
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