After China Southern, China Eastern Suspends Its Nepal Flights

Jet fuel crisis at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) due to the "unofficial trade blockade" imposed by India has hit yet another China-based airline.

China Eastern Airlines on Friday announced temporary suspension of its Kunming-Kathmandu flights, starting from Oct. 15 till 26. The airline has informed the travel agencies here that if the jet fuel situation did not improve, it would be forced to extend the flights suspension further.

On Sep. 29, China Southern Airlines had temporarily cancelled its Guangzhou-Kathmandu flights until Oct. 10 due to jet fuel problem in Nepal. The airline has further extended its cancellation until Oct. 25.

Citing the crisis of jet fuel, the airport authority on Sept.29 had barred foreign carriers to refuel at the TIA. The tough decision was taken in response to requests made by the Nepal Oil Corporation.

"This is to kindly inform you all that due to the present situation of Nepal and fuel crisis, we are going to cancel more flights of Guangzhou-Kathmandu-Guangzhou effective from Sep. 29 to Oct. 25," said the China Southern in its Facebook page. "If the situation gets better before this date we will recover our flights soon."

The flights has been cancelled on the eve of Nepal's main festival season -- Dashain and Tihar -- when thousands of migrant workers and other Nepalis living abroad return home to celebrate with their families.

Travelers have been criticising the airlines as they have been frustrated with the flight cancellations at the last hour, said travel agencies here. "As inbound flights to Nepal are almost full they have been affected largely," they said.

"I have a flight on Oct. 26 from Guangzhou to Kathmandu. I just want to make sure the flight will be on schedule or not. If not how we gonna manage out trip to Kathmandu?" a U.S.-based Upahaar Gurung commented on the Facebook page of the China Southern.

Likewise, another traveler Subodh Dhakal said, "Can you please let us know the latest situation on Guangzhou-Kathmandu flights update on CZ 3067 flight on Oct. 22? We are in a dilemma."

Dhiraj Chandra Shrestha, deputy sales manager of China Southern, said that they have been arranging alternatives for passengers. "For the travellers, who wish to cancel their reservation, we have been providing full refund facilities and for those who do not want to cancel, we have arranged seats in other airlines," he said.

Shrestha said that the cancellations of flights have affected around 2,000 passengers of China Southern Airlines.