Pokhara-Kathmandu air ticket booking at 90 percent

Pokhara: As the tourist season peaks, airlines say 90 percent of air tickets on Pokhara-Kathmandu-Pokhara sector have been booked till May.

Station Manager of Buddha Air in Pokhara said 90 percent of available tickets have been booked for this season. “Of the total booking, 70 percent were by foreigners and rest by Indians and locals,” he said.

He further said that the proportion of incoming and outgoing passengers from Pokhara airport was similar and occupancy in some of the flights had already hit 100 percent.

Airlines are also planning to add more flights to meet the demand. Buddha Air recently added one more flight to its five daily starting March. “We will be adding more flights on this route,” added Baral.

Likewise, booking of Yeti Airlines tickets has also reached 90 percent said Ram Lamichhane, station manager of Yeti Airlines. The airlines has increased its regular flight to 10 per day from 8 flights.

The other airlines operator, Agni Air is also adding one more flight from April. Rijan Rijal, station manager of Agni Air said that there was no off season for airlines operator this year. “The average occupancy this year was 90 percent,” he said.

Tourism entrepreneurs are also happy with the growing number of tourist arrivals. They are optimistic about the further growth as the occupancy of passengers for upcoming months has significantly gone up.

“Tourist arrivals is satisfactory and there is positive increment in the number compared to same period last year,” said Biplab Paudel, president of Regional Hotel Association Nepal.

source: republica,24 March 2012