skylarnyc

A group of friends ticketed on Air India to DEL are now stuck at Kathmandu Airport. They looking for information about what's going on with departures there; no flights appear to be departing or arriving, airport terminal is chaotic with no airline ground staff present and no information provided otherwise. They were supposed to be on AI216 to Delhi, which AI's website shows as "departed on time", but in fact it did not do so. Airport terminal is filling with other travelers seeking to depart as well. My friends are trying to figure out where to look for reliable info on when flights will resume. Neither Flightaware.com nor Air India website contain accurate current info. Any suggestions from fellow FT'rs would be welcome !

Sigwx

I understand the airport was closed again today (26 TH) due to another tremor causing radar and ATC to go offline and the terminal to be evacuated again. Departures are on a haphazard basis right now due to regular after shocks and subsequent evacuations of the tower and terminal. Assuming the tectonic plates hold in one place for a period some flights can get in and out. QR were among some aircraft able to land, turn around and depart. Sadly aircraft appear to be getting into the air, only to have to divert when the situation turns.
I hope your group have a place to shelter. Fingers crossed they will be out of there soon if not already. A truly catastrophic situation for Nepal.

planensimple

Air India and many other India based airlines are running a coordinated evacuation effort along with the Indian Air force for the people stuck out there. Given that there are still after shocks that are being felt across the region, my suggestion would be ask your friends to contact their respective embassies to get more information on the evacuation efforts. There were some flights that were operated yesterday but subsequent strong aftershock led to airport closure. Another way for your friends to look for maybe to use the land route to reach India but this depends on where they are stuck.

Keyser

unfortunately at this time the only place where they would be able to get any information would be the airport....ai would not have any idea since the situation is changing all the time there....

hyho61

You could take a bus to Samastipur in Bihar and then to Patna and Delhi. But even buses may be hard to get as most buses to India are overflowing with passengers.

skylarnyc

Thanks to all of you who responded - the suggestions were useful and happily the group were eventually (after many hours in the airport as you will not be surprised to hear) all able to secure flights out. We were able to relay some of the responses posted here to some of those stranded and they relay their thanks as well !