NAC New Delhi flight to resume soon

The suspended Kathmandu-Delhi-Kathmandu flights of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) will resume in a week, according to the national flag carrier.

NAC flights on the sector have been suspended due to repair works of the 180-seater Boeing aircraft’s faulty gear some 10 days ago.

"It took a little more time to find the spare parts as NAC planes are of old model," said a source at the national flag carrier. "After a long search, the spare parts were found in Canada," the source said adding that NAC has placed the order. The spare parts will reach Kathmandu within five days.

"It will take another couple of days to fix spare parts and tentatively flights on New Delhi route -- one of the most lucrative routes -- will resume in a week."

Despite being a lucrative route New Delhi always suffers due to lack of NAC aircraft. The airline had suspended its flight in 2008 for almost seven months due to technical problem in one of the aircraft.

The national flag carrier has two age-old Boeings 747s that have been flying on New Delhi, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Doha, Qatar, Hong Kong and Bangkok route.

NAC has been shifting its passengers to other flight operators in New Delhi.

According to the Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) data, visitor arrivals in July, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 26.1 per cent to 29,338 fuelled by the Indian tourists arrivals. Indian tourists arrivals increased by 26.5 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2009.

Though, there are over one dozen airlines in Nepal, only national flag carrier and Buddha Air — that has recently started its flights to Paro, Bhutan — fly on international routes.

Buddha prepares Kolkata flight

KATHMANDU: Buddha Air expects a clearance from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), India, next week and the from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India, by September-end to start daily flight operations on the Kathmandu-Kolkata-Kathmandu route from the first week of October. The private airline officials said that the airline will operate a 48-seater ATR 42 plane and hope to do a good business as it is one of the lucrative routes. Currently, only Air India flies three to four times a week on the route. "We expect BCAS approval to come in a week and DGCA nod within a month," the airline said. Under the revised Air Service Agreement between Nepal and India, Nepali private airlines can now fly to Kolkata, Lucknow and Patna. Buddha Air is designated by the government to operate flights on these routes. While the airline hopes to start flights between Kathmandu and Lucknow in November, Patna will take some time. The daily flights will be convenient for Indian tourists as Nepal-bound Indian tourists are on rise since the beginning of this year.