Tourism

Royal Nepal Airline’s flop show does not mean Nepal is not a market for aviation business. The steadily growing activities of foreign airlines’ in the country are living testimony to that. The robust growth in their share of the business pie clearly signifies how promising Nepal is for international airline operation.

Consider the latest development. Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has recently allowed Gulf Air and Singapore Airlines to increase their flight frequencies to and from Kathmandu.

Gulf Air will fly four times in a week beginning next month (September) to and from Kathmandu. The international airline has also been permitted to operate three extra flights in the Kathmandu, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi routes.

Similarly, CAAN has also allowed Singapore Airlines to operate four scheduled weekly flights in Singapore-Kathmandu-Singapore route beginning October this year. Under its present schedule, Singapore Airline has been operating three scheduled flights on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

That’s not all. Recently, Transavia also decided to double its flight frequency in the Amsterdam-Kathmandu route — from once a week to twice. A subsidiary of KLM, the Dutch Airline, Transavia has had a good business record in the last two years.

After it began its chartered flights in 1998, Transavia’s additional flight will now be scheduled one from October. "This shows Transavia’s confidence in doing business in Nepal," says Subodh Rana, Managing Director of Marcopolo Travels, Transavia’s authorised agent in Kathmandu.

More importantly, OAD Reizen, the biggest tour operator in Netherlands, will still continue guaranteeing 80 percent in seats of the one of the Boeing 757 flights that Transavia will be flying in. When Transavia started its flights two years ago, it was the same tour operator that took the responsibility of filling the airseats.

"OAD's confidence is yet another good news for Nepal as a destination," says Rana. The Dutch tour operator has even brought out brochures three times depicting Nepal’s tourism products for three times. Very soon, it will bring out the fourth edition. "The increase in flights makes it clear that Transavia is here to stay," Rana says.

Other international airline officials based in Kathmandu also echo the similarly good news. "We have had a healthy occupancy rate," says Lawrence Liu, Kathmandu Station Manager of Singapore Airlines.

In yet another positive development, Thai Airlines has also of late increased its flights and has even started flying Boeing 777 with more seat capacity every day of the week. Naturally, without good business the successful international airline would not have done so. "Our occupancy rate has been very good and therefore our flight frequency has been increased," says Martin Lama, Thai’s Station Manager in Kathmandu.

Qatar Airways earlier this year increased its flight frequencies starting operation between Kathmandu and London.

Also worth mentioning is the effort of Indian Airlines – besides the push of the government here — to resume its flights after it suspended its incoming flights following the hijack of one of its Airbus en route to New Delhi from Kathmandu on December 24 last year. Kathmandu has been one of the most lucrative sectors of the Indian national flag carrier.

All these developments point to one thing: Foreign international airlines are doing good business here. The success of these commercial operations is based on one strong fact — around 90 per cent of the in-bound tourists arrive here by air.

Nearly 500,000 tourists visited Nepal in 1999. In the last few years, tourist arrival has been growing at the rate of around 10 percent. Also rising is the number of international airlines flying in and out of Kathmandu of late.

Presently, 15 international airlines including the Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC) are operating to and from Kathmandu. This at a time when Tribhuvan International Airport is the only international airport accommodating international jets in the country.

Operating flights aside, the number of Air Service Agreements (ASAs) Nepal has signed with other countries has also increased. In 1998 alone, Nepal signed six ASAs with different countries. Two years down the line the total number of ASAs has reached 31.

With the latest agreement, Nepal now has more than 36,000 one way international air seats at its disposal. Annually, this figure shoots up to nearly two million. Double to that are the two-way air seats.

Theoretically, that may sound encouraging. Practically, things are not as rosy though. If anyone has benefited from the increased number of ASAs, it is the foreign international airlines flying in. While the country has not been able to utilise a greater chunk of the available air seats.

Taking the blame of this imbalance in civil aviation is the national flag carrier. With only two of its own Boeing 757s and a leased aircraft, the national airline has been bungling to utilize the available air seats. Grossly inadequate to operate into its existing 14 international routes, RNAC’s weak fleet shows no hope of improvement in the near future.

With the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament hounding it for quite sometime, RNAC’s plans to buy a brand new Boeing 767 and two French-made ATR is in the doldrums for now. Not to talk about its internal problems resulting into its inability to lease in an aircraft to survive for now. So much so, the state-run airline has not been able to lease an aircraft even after inviting global tender for good six times.

Almost same has been the case with the private airlines that have been allowed to take off to the international skies. Around half a dozen private airlines are sitting tight with their licenses to fly in the international routes. But they show no sign to begin the real business.

That way even the new interested investors are kept at bay. Officials at CAAN say that the officialdom had agreed not to allow any newcomers to invest in international routes for five years once the licenses are distributed.

Apart for RNAC, Necon Air is the only private operator to fly in the international route – to Indian cities.

RNAC’s three Boeings and Necon Air’s few aircraft have been able to utilize only around 7,000 air seats in a week.

It is this inefficiency of the Nepali airlines while utilizing the available airseats, foreign airlines are cashing in on the situation, aviation experts say.

Perhaps. But even then, Nepal has one reason to toast cheers: It is, and will be, getting increasing number of tourists from around the world thanks to foreign international airline’s booming business here.

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International Airlines

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