KATHMANDU, April 17: Responding to Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gokul Baskota's remarks about missing his flight, Buddha Air has said that it could not have waited for the minister any longer as this could have meant aborting the flight and inconveniencing the 68 passengers already on board.

The airline in its statement issued Tuesday said that they couldn't further reschedule the flight as the weather condition was going to be adverse after that.

“If we were to wait another 30-35 minutes, the flight would have had to make a night stay in Bhairahawa due to the weather condition. That would cause inconvenience to the 68 other passengers and mean an additional financial burden for them,” said the airline in its statement.

Earlier, the flight was scheduled for 4 pm but was delayed due to ongoing airport upgrading at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu as well as bad weather. The flight was later rescheduled for 7 pm and it took off at 7:32 pm.

When staff at Buddha Air had inquired about Baskota's plans for returning to Kathmandu, security agencies in the district informed the airline that the minister would leave on Monday. Security agencies, according to airline, had requested it to arrange a ticket for Monday. The airline arranged the ticket accordingly.

But after confirming everything, the chief district officer later called the airline and informed it that the minister would be leaving his hotel about 15-20 minutes later and requesting it to hold back the flight.

Baskota later complained at a press conference in Butwal about missing his plane.

 
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