Airlines (Commonwealth Union)_Doha, Qatar: Nepal’s Himalaya Airlines plane bound for Doha from Kathmandu took off after an initial delay of about 90 minutes. It landed at Hamad International Airport with almost no checked-in luggage, and no explanations offered to passengers.
The flight H9563, landed without their baggage to the utter dismay of passengers, leaving most of them waiting for about two hours with no concrete explanation.
The flight was initially scheduled to take off on January 29, 2024, at 21:55 local time from Kathmandu and land in Doha at 0:45 past midnight.
However, their arrival was delayed owing to unknown reasons as the flight eventually landed at 2:12 am.
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Dipendra, one of the passengers, who was returning to Doha on a new work visa after a gap of two years was all excited for new beginnings. He went to the baggage carousel after clearing immigration, to collect his luggage and waited for two hours along with fellow passengers from the same flight.
He told The Peninsula that there were a handful of bags on the carousel and when they enquired with the luggage service at the airport, they were told that their luggage had not arrived in the plane, and added that his documents and a small amount of pocket money were in the bag that was stuck in Nepal.
The bags arrived the next day, 31st January, which as per the passengers, came on the next flight.
Abeer, another passenger, stated that the airline has a lax attitude to such practices and refuses to entertain complaints. He said they behave in such a fashion because we are all labourers and expect that there will be no complaint from our side. The Hamad Airport baggage service explained that the plane arrived without most of their bags. “We gave a written complaint at the airport and received our bags the next day,” he vented.
On contacting Himalaya Airlines, the official on duty refused to comment and informed The Peninsula that the Corporate Communications from Nepal would get in touch, but as of filing the report, had not reverted.
Another passenger meanwhile, who travelled by Nepal Airlines on the same day also shared a similar experience. She and few others who arrived by Nepal Airlines also did not receive their bags and were told to come to the Hamad International Airport on the next day to collect it as they had not arrived on the flight, she said, adding that though it is not a major cause for concern, it was an inconvenience as they returned to Doha a day prior to resuming their duties and then had to return to the airport to collect their bags, which became a problem.
“An entire flight with no luggage lands in Doha and the airline does not even have any clue. He added that they called the Himalaya Airlines office there and the official just said that it will arrive on the next flight with no apology for the inconvenience caused or no explanation on their part.
Himalaya Airlines (H9) is a Nepal-China joint venture International Airlines, has become an IOSA registered operator, the first airline in Nepal to do so, established in 2014 with two complimenting objectives being : to promote people-to-people contact between Nepal and other countries, as well as to boost Nepal’s trade and tourism industries.
The joint venture alliance is between Yeti World Investment Pvt. Ltd and Tibetan Civil Aviation Development & Investment Company Ltd. (TCADIC).
Himalaya Airlines presently operates flights to the UAE, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bangladesh and China. Himalaya flies to five cities in China – Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Lhasa and Qingdao.
(Names of the passengers have been changed upon request)
