30,000 seats, 28 destinations under Nepal-India Air Deal
BIMAL GAUTAM
(Updated with details)
KATHMANDU, Sept 10: Nepal and India have agreed to allow each other´s air carriers to carry up to 30 thousand passengers on trans-border flights per week, five times more than the existing numbers.
Representatives of the two countries entered into an agreement to this effect during a secretary-level bilateral meeting that concluded in New Delhi on Wednesday. Previously, airlines from the two countries could fly only up to 6,000 passengers on cross-border flights.
The new agreement, which replaces the 1997 agreement between the two countries, will allow Nepali airlines to carry five times more passengers to metropolitan cities in India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
“The agreement is a great achievement,” Nagendra Ghimire, Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, said, adding, “The new agreement will be instrumental in the success of Nepal Tourism Year-2011.”
However, Nepali airlines can carry only 25 thousand passengers before December 2010 due to ongoing construction work at airports in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
“Nepali carriers could fly up to 15 thousand passengers to New Delhi and 10 thousand to either Mumbai or Bangalore per week before December of 2010,” reads an agreement signed by the aviation secretaries of Nepal and India.
As per the new agreement, airlines from both countries can operate direct cross-border flights from regional airports including Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi in Nepal and Varanasi, Patna, Gaya and Lakhnau of India.
“The provisions under the new agreement are expected to give a boost to Nepal´s tourism sector in the long run,” Secretary Ghimire added.
The new agreement has also increased air traffic rights for Nepal. Earlier Nepal had air traffic rights in up to seven points in India. Nepal has bagged up to 28 destinations in India under the new agreement.
In the beginning there was no provision for intermediate points for carrying passengers to the seven destinations in India. But as per the new agreement, Nepali carriers can pick up passengers from airports along the way and complete their flights. The agreement was inked by Secretary Ghimire and Indian Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar.
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30,000 Seats, 28 Destinations Under Nepal-India Air Deal
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