-KATHMANDU
The stated owned flag carrier of Nepal, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has been reported serving various eight international destinations with average seat occupancy of 77.6 percent. Managing Director for NAC, Mr. Sugat Ratna Kansakar equating the report, said that the flag carrier previously had operated international flights with low seat occupancy but now every international flight of Nepal Airlines has the optimum number of passengers.
The present seat occupancy of the corporation is nearly about an average percentage of 80 on each schedule flight which is noteworthy. The seat occupancy is bound to increase in the future with the boost in the country’s tourism industry, said Kansakar.
NAC presently operates its international flights to eight destinations with three aircraft, one Boeing 757-200 and two Airbus A320-233 aircraft. Presently, NAC has scheduled flights to New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai from its hub Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Kathmandu.
According to statistics maintained by the national flag carrier, NAC’s average seat occupancy in the last six months to Doha and Hong Kong stood at 85.8 percent and 78.05 percent, respectively. Similarly, Nepal Airlines flew to Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi with average seat occupancy of 75.77 percent and 80.13 percent, respectively in the last six months. Likewise, NAC’s data shows that its flights to Mumbai and Dubai were recorded average seat occupancy of 65.48 percent and 76.4 percent, respectively over the last six months.
Similarly, NAC has been flying to Bangalore and Bangkok with average seat occupancy of 80 percent each. However, Kansakar informed that Nepal Airlines’ seat occupancy has been affected time and again due to unhealthy competition in airfare among other airlines. Nepal Airlines will gradually promote itself as the best airline among air travellers by diversifying its services.
Though NAC has limited aircraft for international flights, it is in the process of adding two wide-body aircraft to its fleet soon. Once these new wide-body aircraft are added to its fleet, NAC plans to conduct direct flights to Saudi Arabia, Korea and Japan, informed Kansakar.
