Air bookings cross 70pc before Dashain rush

Domestic airlines have reported a surge in bookings even as they brace for the Dashain travel rush when people return to their homes in hordes to celebrate the festival with their families.

According to operators, reservations on the major trunk routes from September 25 to October 3 have crossed 70 percent as of September 7.

Janakpur, Biratnagar and Bhadrapur are the busiest sectors. Carriers attributed the healthy bookings to floods and landslides in many parts of the country prompting travellers to take to the air.   

“More than 70 percent of the seats on the Janakpur, Biratnagar and Bhadrapur sectors have been booked so far,” said Rupesh Joshi, senior executive manager at Buddha Air.

“We expect that the remaining 30 percent of the seats will be sold soon,” Joshi said. Buddha Air might add extra flights on these sectors based on demand, however, bookings on other sectors like Nepalgunj, Dhangadhi and Pokhara are still to pick up, he added.

Yeti Airlines said that 75 percent of the seats on all the sectors had been booked, and that bookings were likely to cross 90 percent next week. Seats on the Tumlingtar sector have been sold out. “Unlike Dashain in the past, demand has increased at a healthy rate due to floods and landslides that have affected many parts

of the country,” said Roshan Regmi, marketing manager at Yeti Airlines.

Meanwhile, Nepal Airlines said that it would be conducting an additional 23 flights for 10 days starting from September 23. Currently, it flies 47 flights a week. Dashain and Tihar are the major season for domestic carriers which accounts for 25 percent of their annual flight movement.

According to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), 320,210 travellers or 21 percent  of the total 1.54 million domestic passengers last year flew during the Dashain and Tihar festival season. The data includes tourist movement as the October-November period is the peak tourism season in Nepal.

Carriers said that discounted tickets were out during the September-November period which is their profit earning season. “The profits earned during this period sustain us for the rest of the year,” said an airline official.

Currently, domestic carriers are passing through hard times. They said that a hike in airfares and the greater availability of luxury buses had driven travellers to surface transport.

During the first three months of 2014, domestic air passenger movement dropped 7.76 percent year on year with airlines flying 28,017 fewer travellers.

TIA’s stats show that there were 90,875 fliers on 4,116 flights in January with occupancy increasing to 104,703 on 4,367 flights in February. Flight movement jumped to 6,212 in March with a total 137,275 passengers.

Bagdogra flights affect Bhadrapur occupancy

The launch of Kathmandu -Bagdogra flights on August 13 by India’s budget carrier SpiceJet has affected the occupancy of domestic carriers on the Kathmandu -Bhadrapur sector. Airlines sources said that the promotional fare offered by SpiceJet on the sector had taken away at least 30 percent of their loyal fliers.

Bagdogra in Darjeeling district, West Bengal is a popular tourist spot and also the base airport for Darjeeling. As the new service has provided an easy hop for travellers to Siliguri, Darjeeling or Sikkim besides convenient connections to Kolkata, occupancy on domestic airlines has dropped significantly. Airline officials said that 60-70 percent of the passengers on their Bhadrapur service are bound for Siliguri, Darjeeling or Sikkim. However, Rupesh Joshi, senior executive manager at Buddha Air, said that SpiceJet’s Bagdogra flight had affected only 20 percent of the occupancy of domestic carriers and only on inbound flights. “As the flight time of SpiceJet is not convenient for outbound travellers, it has not affected the Kathmandu -Bhadrapur occupancy.” The flight departs at 4:05 pm from Kathmandu and reaches Bagdogra at 4:45 pm. The airline received more than 5,200 bookings within a week of the launch of its service. (PR)

source: the kathmandu post,8 sep 2014