International air links to Nepalare set to expand tremendously with new airlines getting operating permits and old airlines increasing their frequency.
According to Monday’s The Kathmandu Post, Fly Dubai has received approval from the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) to fly between Dubai and Kathmandu, using B737-800 aircraft from the third week of December.T he carrier will operate seven flights a week.
“We will soon be approving Kingfisher Airline’s application to operate a weekly flight on the Kathmandu-Mumbai sector,” said MoTCA secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire.
Likewise, Jet Airways has applied to operate additional flights on the Mumbai-Kathmandu and Delhi-Kathmandu sectors.
Ghimire said that the China Eastern Airlines had started Kunming-Kathmandu flights. It operates thrice a week.
Dragon Air has doubled its frequency with a wide-body aircraft with a seating capacity of 369.
“The increase in international flights is due to the rapid economic development of our neighboring countries which has increased the number of high-spending tourists,” he said.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board, the number of tourists visiting Nepal via air in October 2009 increased by 10.8 percent. The statistics of the NTB shows that 56,009 tourists arrived in Nepal this October compared to 50,567 during the same period last year.