National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

Wider Avenue

Two private sector airlines of India are on the verge of launching their flights to Kathmandu

By THAKUR AMGAI

Two private sector airlines of India have applied formally to the Nepalese government for permission to launch their flights from Delhi to Kathmandu. The companies based in India got permission from the Indian government to launch flight to Kathmandu from Indian government recently.

The Sahara Air (SA) and the Jet Airways (JA) have formally applied to the department of civil aviation for license to launch flights to Nepalese cities. SA applied through Zenith Travels, its local sales agent, while the JA is still looking for a local sales agent in Nepal.

According to the managing director of the Zenith Travels, SA is planning to launch daily flights en route Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi. It is planning to launch the flight from the second week of May. When the license is granted, it will launch a 165-seater Boeing 737 aircraft.

Both the airways have already got permission from the Indian government to launch their flights to Kathmandu from April 20th.

Currently, Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation (RNAC)- the Nepalese national fag-bearer and the India Airlines (IA), are the two major commuters linking Nepal and India. RNAC has only one flight daily to and fro the Indian Capital Delhi (190-seater).

The Indian Airlines, too, does not have enough flights to withstand the passenger pressure. It has resumed one flight daily (246-seater) to and from Delhi to Kathmandu and 3 flights a week each from Venaras and Calcutta.

India is considered as the largest tourist generating market for Nepal, which covers one- third of the total tourist arrival. However, lack of proper transportation linking Indian and Nepalese cities is obstructing the probable growth in the number of tourists.

It is not viable for Indian tourist to take any other route then a direct flight to Nepal, as it is the nearest country from Nepal. The land route, too, is not appropriate as there is no direct connection between India and Nepal so far. Even with direct bus connection, the land journey will take long time. The train journey, in addition to being hectic, is also considered very unsafe.

Thus air travel is the only option for visiting Indian tourists to Nepal. The number of flights as well as the service quality has to be improved to lure more Indian tourists to Nepal.

At present, the number flights and the services existing is not enough to tap the huge potential market of Indian tourists. In this context the introduction of flights by the SA and Jet Airways is likely to give a boost to the Indian tourist arrival in Kathmandu.

SA and the JA are the first Indian private sector airlines making direct flights to Kathmandu. However, Nepal had already given permission to the Necon Air, to launch its flight to and from Patna, which used to make three flights weekly.

The number of Indian tourists is rising with the launch of “Pashupati Darshan package” and it is expected to rise further.

Some tourism entrepreneurs claim that the tourists are canceling trips because of the ongoing agitation. Many, who have chosen tourism as their profession to earn bread and butter, are quite pessimistic about the future of tourism. They blame the Maoist insurgency and the current agitation going on in the streets of Kathmandu.

However, the agitation is a temporary event that will come to an end. Thus an effort to improve the tourism industry as a whole will affect the industry in long run. The introduction of the airways is an event that has far-reaching consequences in the industry.

The threshold of improvement in tourism is transportation.

“The first thing is that the tourists should be able to enter the country easily. Then only comes the situation of the country,” opines Anil Subedi, former sales manager at the Nilgiri treks and expeditions. “ What is the use of the peaceful country full of tourist destinations if there is no means for coming to the country?” questions Subedi.

When the Jet Airways and Sahara launch their operations in Nepal, the Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs will also get the opportunity to exploit the vast network these leading Indian private airliners have in the Indian domestic market.