main_image
NEWS
bottom
bottom

Turkish Airlines receives overwhelming booking

Turkish Airline, which is beginning scheduled flights to Nepal from Monday, has received overwhelming bookings. The airline will fly four times a week on Istanbul-Kathmandu sector.

According to Zenith Travels, the general sales agents (GSA) of Turkish Airline in Nepal, the airline has received cent percent booking for the Kathmandu flights until January. “The booking for Kathmandu-Istanbul sector is also full until November,” Joy Dewan, managing director of Zenith Travels, said. “We have received overwhelming bookings as the airline is establishing direct link with Europe from Kathmandu after a gap of 16 years.”

Besides, the airline has benefited from the beginning of tourist season in Nepal and the academic session in Europe and the US, according to Dewan.
Turkish Airline is using 280-seater Airbus A330 aircraft for Kathmandu flights. The maiden will land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 7:15 am on Monday. It will return to Istanbul at 8:45 am.

The Air Service Agreement (ASA) between Nepal and Turkey, which was signed in September 2010, allows the two countries to operate 14 flights per week each on Kathmandu-Istanbul sector.

Turkish Airlines will fly to Kathmandu on Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays. According to Dewan, the airline might increase flights frequency to seven flights a week depending on the market demand.

The airline has announced promotional fare for round trip at Rs 48,500, including taxes, based on availability.Tourism entrepreneur Shyam Mohan Shrestha, who was the general manager of Air France in Nepal until 2007, said Turkish Airlines has received overwhelming response because of the increasing number of Nepalis flying to Europe and the US and growing number of tourists to Nepal.

According to the tourism ministry, the number of foreign tourists increased to 803,092 in 2012, up from 421,857 recorded in 1997. Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) used to operate flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt from Kathmandu. Lufthansa of Germany, Transavia Airlines of the Netherlands, Austrian Airlines of Austria and Martin Air of the Netherlands also used to operate flights to Kathmandu.

“All these airlines halted Nepal operation because of low traffic at that time,” Shrestha said, adding, “Airlines can operate in profit if they have occupancy of around 80 percent.”

source: republica,1 Sept 2013