Domestic carriers to operate only 35% of flights today

On Sunday, domestic airlines cancelled 80 to 85 percent of flights to all destinations. Yeti Airlines, for example, operated 7 flights, which is only 23 percent of its scheduled flights. Similarly, Buddha Air operated 16 percent of scheduled flights, while Simrik Air operated 50 percent of its flights. To avert flight cancellations, NOC on Sunday distributed nearly 45 kiloliters of ATF to domestic carriers. "We have distributed 45 kilolitres of ATF to domestic airlines on Sunday. It is 75 percent of the supplies that they were receiving on normal days," Pradip Kumar Yadav, aviation fuel in-charge of NOC, said. "The problem will be solved once Petromax Nepal starts supplying ATF from either Wednesday or Thursday." Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) said domestic airlines will be able to operate more flights on Monday. According to Kamalesh Kumar Verma, CEO of AOAN, Buddha Air has received 12 kiloliters of ATF. Similarly, Yeti Airlines has received 10 kiloliters while Sourya Airlines and Simrik Air have got 2.5 liters each. Likewise, Goma Air and Sita Air have received 1.2 kiloliters each, while Tara has been given 3 kiloliters. Six helicopter companies will get one kiloliter each. "With this fuel, airlines can operate around 30 percent of their scheduled flights," Verma said, adding that supply won't be regular unless NAC operate 3 flights a day to airlift ATF. Daily demand of ATF stands at 65 to 70 kiloliters. Ram Hari Sharma, spokesperson of NAC, said they were working hard to airlift as much ATF as possible so that airlines do not cancel flights in this peak tourist and festive season. "We have airlifted 946,000 kiloliters of ATF by operating 43 flights so far," Sharma said, adding that NAC will operate three flights each on Monday and Tuesday to airlift ATF. Airlines expect to operate all their scheduled flights from Tuesday onwards. Rupesh Joshi, senior executive manager at Buddha Air, said they will operate two flights each to Nepalgunj, Bhairahawa and Dhangadi, and one mountain flight on Monday. Similarly, Bhim Raj Rai, media manager of Yeti Airlines, said they felt sad to cancel flights to destinations like Lukla and Lamidanda where traffic of foreign tourists is high. According to Rai, Yeti Airlines will operate four flights to Pokhara, two each to Bharatpur, Bhadrapur, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj, four to Biratnagar, and one to Dhangadi. Likewise, Tara Air will operate 10 flights to Lukla, one to Lamidanda, and three to Phaplu. "We are also planning to operate two flights from Nepalgunj to remote destinations," Rai added. Prajol Thapa, chief -- marketing and sales of Simrik Air, said they have scheduled three flights to Pokhara, three to Bhairahawa, and two to Lukla. The airline will operate mountain flights as per the schedule, according to Thapa.