India’s Jet Airways and national flag carrier of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Airlines have approached for codeshare agreement with Nepal for which both the company have asked permissions from Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA).
Jet Airways who has codeshare agreement with KLM Dutch Airlines has proposed to serve KLM passengers from Delhi to Kathmandu.
Likewise, Sri Lankan Airlines has proposed to have codeshare agreement with Air India to serve its passengers from New Delhi to Kathmandu.
If ministry gives permission to the two airlines then KLM can book tickets for Kathmandu and Sri Lankan can assign tickets for Kathmandu from Colombo.
The Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Nepal and India has already been revised according to which Nepal and Indian Airlines will be able to exchange codeshare.
Indian side was asking for the agreement with Nepal from the long time. In particular, while considering the need for the Indian Airlines business, the Government of Nepal has accepted the agreement only after India agreed Nepal to give air routes.
Codeshare is the arrangement to serve the passengers from one place to another in the same ticket and boarding pass. For instance, after applying this arrangement, passengers can take tickets directly from London to Kathmandu. Travelers carrying a boarding pass from London can come to Kathmandu through New Delhi transit. Although the airline will change, the ticket is same.
Ministry said that the codeshare agreement has been proposed in-order to conduct flights to the destinations which are not connected to Nepal.
Rabindra Adhiakri, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) said that India operates flights to major cities of countries of the world and travelers from there with no trouble can reach to Kathmandu in same ticket. He also said that tourists will grow automatically after establishing an environment of smooth travel.
According to Minister Adhikari, a trade expansion opportunity has opened for Nepal and Indian Airlines from the agreement. Both countries can provide ticketing services to the places where they don’t operate scheduled flights.
