Domestic airline ticket booking at 90 percent

As the tourist season peaks, airlines say 90 percent of air tickets on Pokhara-Kathmandu-Pokhara sector have been booked till May.

Station Manager of Buddha Air in Pokhara said 90 percent of available tickets have been booked for this season. “Of the total booking, 70 percent were by foreigners and rest by Indians and locals,” he said. Furthermore, the proportion of incoming and outgoing passengers from Pokhara airport was similar and occupancy in some of the flights had already hit 100 percent.

Airlines are also planning to add more flights to meet the demand. Buddha Air recently added one more flight to its five daily starting March. Likewise, booking of Yeti Airlines tickets has also reached 90 percent according to the station manager of Yeti Airlines. The airline has increased its regular flight to 10 per day from 8 flights. Similarly, the other airline operator, Agni Air is also adding one more flight from April as there was no off season for airlines operator this year with an average occupancy of almost 90 percent.

Tourism entrepreneurs are also happy with the growing number of tourist arrivals. They are optimistic about the further growth as the occupancy of passengers for upcoming months has significantly gone up.