Nepal Airlines flight with PM Prachanda on board causes inconvenience to 31 passengers; leaves two hours early

Kathmandu: A Dubai-bound Nepal Airlines flight with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on board caused inconvenience to travellers as it took off two hours earlier than its scheduled time, leaving 31 passengers stranded at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

On Wednesday, the Dubai-bound flight - RA 299 was scheduled to take off at 11.30 pm but the national flag carrier flew at 9.30 pm from due to the flight’s VVIP status.

Prime Minister Prachanda was on the same flight and he was leaving for Dubai with a delegation to the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 28). The flight had to leave early, said the airlines.

Later in a notice, the airlines apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passengers.

There were 274 passengers on the list and of them 31 could not catch up the airplane which was rescheduled two hours late.

The airline said it had issued a notice regarding the new schedule through mobile phones and emails but 31 passengers did not respond.

The left-out passengers were put up in a hotel by the airlines and arrangement was made for their flight the next day, according to the airlines sources.

Ramesh Paudel, Spokesperson of Nepal Airlines, however, claimed that he had informed each and every passenger through email and phone a week ahead about the new flight schedule.

He insisted that there was no negligence on their part and that the Dubai flight schedule was revised on November 23.

“Due to the VVIP flights, the decision was not made public. We, however, informed each and everyone through email and phones on November 24,” he said.