More airlines to fly to Nepal
KATHMANDU, NOV 23 - International air links to Nepal are set to expand tremendously with new airlines getting operating permits and old airlines increasing their frequency.
Fly Dubai has received approval from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) to fly between Dubai and Kathmandu which it will be doing with B737-800 aircraft from the third week of December. The carrier will operate seven flights a week.
"We will soon be approving Kingfisher Airline's application to operate a weekly flight on the Kathmandu-Mumbai sector," said MoTCA secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire.
Likewise, Jet Airways has applied to operate additional flights on the Mumbai-Kathmandu and Delhi-Kathmandu sectors.
Ghimire said that China Eastern Airlines had started Kunming-Kathmandu flights. It operates thrice a week.
Dragon Air has doubled its frequency with a wide-body aircraft with a seating capacity of 369.
In the domestic sector, Ghimire said that Buddha Air and Alpine Air had applied to fly to India. Buddha Air has asked for the Pokhara-Lucknow route, and Alpine Air wants to link Kathmandu and Delhi, he added.
"The increase in international flights is due to the rapid economic development of our neighbouring countries which has increased the number
of high-spending tourists," he said.
He added that increasing air connectivity between Nepal and India was the aim of the new air service agreement (ASA) signed between the two countries which has boosted weekly air seats five-fold and opened 10 new destinations.
Nepal and India revised their ASA after 12 years in New Delhi on Sept. 8-9. Under the pact, the two countries have agreed to expand the number of weekly air seats from 6,000 to 30,000.
Nepal can now offer 30,000 air seats per week to seven metropolitan cities in India while 21 other tourism points have been opened to Nepali airlines without seat or flight restrictions.
Ram Kaji Koney, president of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), said that an air seat shortage had made airfares expensive.
He added that the liberal policy of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had created opportunities for both domestic and foreign carriers which was good for Nepal's tourism and other sectors.
Koney said that the number of arrivals was rising significantly and that increased air connectivity would have a positive impact on the country's economic development.
"However, we still don't have enough airlines to spread the country's reputation across the globe," he added.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the number of tourists visiting Nepal via air in October 2009 increased by 10.8 percent. The statistics of the NTB shows that 56,009 tourists arrived in Nepal this October compared to 50,567 during the same period last year.
Air tourist arrivals in 2008 numbered 374,661, up from 360,708 in 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment