NAC postpones Delhi flights due to red-tape
KATHMANDU, FEB 25
Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), proud owner of a brand new Airbus A320, has postponed its slated resumption of commercial flights on the lucrative Kathmandu -Delhi sector on Wednesday due to “inadequate paperwork”.
NAC spokesperson Ram Hari Sharma said that they were forced to postpone the scheduled flight for Friday after the Civil Aviation Authority of India asked for a few documents to get the permission to land at the Delhi airport.
Around 130 passengers had booked for the first NAC flight to the Indian capital after nearly a year.
NAC sources said that the Indian authorities had informed the corporation on Monday to apply for a new flight permission as it had suspended services for nearly a year. But the NAC officials maintain that they had followed all the due procedures.
“We don’t see any valid reason to deny landing permit,” an NAC source said. The corporation applied for a flight permit two weeks ago and its airport slot has already been approved. NAC’s operating authorization on the Kathmandu -Delhi sector is valid till June 26, 2015.
“The corporation informed the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu about the issue through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday,” the source said. “The carrier had waited in vain for clearance from India till late night.” The carrier received an air operator’s certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal on Tuesday afternoon allowing it to fly the new aircraft on commercial services. The national flag carrier has planned operating four flights weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It plans to increase the frequency to a daily soon, NAC officials said.
The cost of a one-way ticket on the Delhi flight has been fixed at Rs 7,084 while a return ticket will cost Rs 15,177 including taxes. The flight will depart from Kathmandu ’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) at 8 am. The return flight from New Delhi will arrive in Kathmandu at 10:40 am. On March 14, 2013, NAC ended a four-decade-old history by formally ceasing its Kathmandu -Delhi flights due to lack of planes. The venerable carrier has decided to resume this service first after acquiring a new Airbus, the first addition to its international fleet in decades.
The new jet, the first of two on order, arrived in Kathmandu on February 8. The aircraft’s arrival is expected to help the ailing carrier to put itself back on the international aviation map.
NAC has had to watch helplessly as upstarts took control of the skies while it sank into a deep morass due to mismanagement, corruption and suffocating political intervention. It strained to maintain a presence on international routes with a fleet consisting of two Boeing 757s. The vintage jets, acquired in 1987 and 1988, were known for spending more time on the ground than in the air.
Industry watchers expect airfares to drop with the national flag carrier flying the Delhi route once again. Ticket prices have swelled three-fold since troubled NAC went offline creating a bonanza for competing carriers. Although the airfare on this sector drops during the off-season, it skyrockets to Rs 40,000 during the March-May and September-November peak seasons. A one-way ticket on the Kathmandu -Delhi sector costs Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 on a normal day. The corporation said that it had accorded high priority to the Delhi sector as travel demand has increased tremendously. It has planned to operate two flights daily on this sector in the near future. NAC will also be resuming flights on the Kathmandu -Bangalore sector after a long break.
Currently, four Indian carriers, Jet Airways, Air India, Spice Jet and IndiGo, operate 60 flights weekly on the Kathmandu -Delhi route. These four airlines commanded a 26.67 percent market share of 1.722 million passengers in the first six months of 2014, according to TIA statistics.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
