As the aviation fuel shortage worsens, domestic airlines have decided to cancel more than half of their scheduled flights on Sunday, entirely cutting air connectivity with the Eastern Tarai belt.

Except flights to Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi, Bhairahawa and some remote destinations such as Lukla, Lamidanda and Phaplu, flights to other areas will be cancelled, according to airlines operators.

“We have requested the operators to reduce their flights, particularly to the east, as there is not enough fuel to provide them on Sunday,” said Pradip Kumar Yadav, aviation fuel in-charge of the NOC.

Domestic airlines are now under the mercy of the national flag carrier. Normal operations from Monday onwards would depend on how much quantity of aviation fuel the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) would source from Kolkata.

“Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi and Bhairahawa airports have some fuel stock left and flights will not be affected there. Likewise, considering the social obligation, flights to some remote areas will continue,” Yadav said.

Yadav said they currently have a stock of 140,000 litres of aviation fuel at the airport in Kathmandu. “This stock will not be used in a view of emergency, security and VIPs movement.”

As NAC was able to make only two flights to import fuel from Kolkata on Saturday, the NOC was compelled to take the harsh decision to ask airlines to slice their scheduled flights.

The NAC imported 44,000 litres fuel on Saturday. Of the total, it has kept 22,000 litres for its own use.

As sixteen domestic airlines companies, including helicopters, have to sustain with 22,000 litres fuel, we had no option but to request the private operators to reduce their flights, Yadav said.

On an average, domestic airlines make 200 take-offs and landings at the Tribhuvan International Airport everyday and consume 50,000 litres of fuel.

On Friday, the NAC had assured airlifting fuel for the next five days. Domestic airlines operators said that aviation fuel crisis is likely to aggravate more as NAC’s Airbus A320 has been grounded on Saturday due to a technical problem.

“As we have to maintain our passenger flight schedule, it could affect our fuel airlifting plan,” said Ram Hari Sharma, spokesperson of NAC. “However, we are doing our best to continue to airlift fuel to ensure that domestic airlines are not grounded.”

Rupesh Joshi, senior executive manager at Buddha Air, said that they have decided to fly to only Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj on Sunday under the request of the NOC. “Flight operation to the rest of the area will depend on the supply of fuel.”

Bhim Raj Rai, media manager at Yeti Airlines, said that they are forced to cut flights on the sector where passenger traffic is high. “The sudden decision has caused inconvenience on travellers who have booked flights.” These three areas—Bhadrapur, Biratnagar and Janakpur—account for nearly 40 percent of domestic passengers.

Meanwhile, Yadav said that Petromax Nepal’s plan to airlift aviation fuel would take at least five days. The NOC had this week awarded the contract to the company to import fuel. Petromax has already been given an airport slot to airlift fuel from Dhaka or Kolkata using Jordan Aviation’s Boeing 767.