Airlines may halt service to Nepal due to vultures hitting planes Saturday, 14 October 2000 22:08 (ET)

Airlines may halt service to Nepal due to vultures hitting planes

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Oct 14 (UPI) -- International airlines flying to Nepal say they will suspend their flights if the government does not put an end to the menace of planes being hit by vultures.

The Board of Airline Representatives in Nepal has told the country's civil aviation authorities that its member carriers will be forced stop service to the capital, Kathmandu, because of the problem posed by the big birds at Tribhuvan airport.

"We need a written assurance from the government that it will take measures to control the birds. If we don't get that assurance, we will stop all airlines from flying into Nepal," said Jaya Dewan, the board's general secretary.

Aviation authorities this week ordered the airport closed indefinitely after two accidents over the preceding 24 hours. The closing, and the cancellation of all flights to and from Kathmandu, were ordered after a China South West Airlines jet was hit by a vulture and had to make an emergency landing Tuesday.

"The plane stopped just before the end of the runway -- that because the pilot applied brakes very hard," a civil aviation official said. "It would have been a major disaster otherwise."

Monday evening, an Indian Airlines plane caught fire barely a minute after takeoff.

There were no injuries in either accident.

The aviation official said he had recently hired hunters to shoot vultures around airports in the tiny Himalayan kingdom.

Last week, state-run Royal Nepal Airlines canceled a flight to London after a bird got sucked into a Boeing 757's engine.

The state-run Royal Nepal Airlines spent a huge sum repairing the engine of a Boeing 757 that was struck by a bird last month. A private airline grounded a smaller aircraft after a similar incident as it was preparing to land.

Aviation authorities, meanwhile, blame Kathmandu city officials for the problem.

"Municipal authorities have been repeatedly told about the garbage dumps around the airport," one official said. "These dumps attract vultures, but the municipal authorities have not shown any interest in clearing these dumps." -- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 15, 2000