Air traffic down 5% in Pokhara

Pokhara: Air traffic in Pokhara Airport fell by 5 percent in 2012 compared to a year ago.

According to airport officials, only 26,730 flights operated from the airport located in the western Nepali city in 2012 as against 28,260 in 2011. The statistics include flights made by all types of aircraft, including ultra-light.

Despite this, total number of air passengers increased slightly to 379,503 in 2012 from 370,493 recorded in 2011.

Pokhara Airport Chief Pratap Tiwari said air traffic took a dip in 2012 due to lack of flights.

Airline companies are having a tough time addressing the increasing demand of flights on Pokhara-Kathmandu route, Tiwari said.

"The number of flights was limited during March-May and September-October on Pokahra-Jomsom route, despite growing demand," he added.

Tiwari also pointed to grounding of many flights in 2012 as the reason behind fall in air traffic. "Because of this, aircraft operating on Pokhara-Jomson route were conducting flights on Kathmandu-Lukla routes as well," he said.

source: republica,9 Jan 2013