Despite their decision to stick to normal fare, which is almost double the concessional fare, there seems to be almost no impact on passengers who are booking their seats in advance to avoid the last minute disappointments. [break]
Executive Manager of Buddha Air Rupesh Joshi said the airline has already sold about 40 percent of the tickets for the season. “Although the booking is above 70 percent, nothing can be said unless tickets are sold,” he said indicating to chances of some cancellation.
According to airlines, the bookings for the first week are higher, with the beginning of Ghatasthapana on 28th September.
Yeti Airlines, which opened the booking for Dashain last week, has already received 90 percent bookings. Reservation Manager of Yeti Airlines Ankur Rana said there has been no impact in booking because of the fare. “We have issued up to 60 percent tickets for popular routes like Biratnagar and Bhadrapur whereas 30-40 percent tickets of other destinations have been sold,” he added.
Pramod Pandey, sales and marketing director of Agni Air, said with increase in the number of tourists and domestic passengers, the airline is expecting almost 50 percent more business in the festival season this year than last year. “During other time of the year, we offer tickets at nominal charges and since this is the peak season it is justified for us to charge normal fare,” he said.
However, airlines maintained that there would not be much change in the overall revenue as the pressure of booking is high on flights flying from Kathmandu only and the flights are likely to return to Kathmandu with fewer passengers. "The sales are better in some sector and sales in the sector like Nepalgunj and Bhairahwa go down during Dashain because of slow business activities," Joshi of Buddha Air said.
Looking at overwhelming passenger flow, operators have already planned to add more flights during the festival. Buddha Air will add one additional flight each to Biratnagar and Bhadrapur sectors. At present, Buddha Air offers 350 seats for Biratnagar and 120 seats for Bhadrapur in a week and with the introduction of one new flight on each route, the total number of seats for the two sectors would be 420 and 210 respectively a week.
Pandey of Agni Air said the airline is positive about adding new flights as per the requirement.
Rana of Yeti Airlines said, “The present trend shows that we will have to operate additional flights.” He said a decision will be taken in two weeks.
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