Friday, January 11, 2019

Domestic airfare comes down

Flying inside the country will be a bit cheaper from Sunday as the domestic carriers have slashed the fuel surcharge following a drop in the price of aviation fuel. The domestic airfare has been revised downwards as the fuel surcharge on both trunk and short take-off and landing (STOL) routes has come down.
The new tariff will be implemented from Sunday.
"The fuel surcharge has been decreased by Rs 90 to Rs 440 on trunk routes and Rs 40 to Rs 340 on STOL routes," according to Airlines Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN).
According to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the privately-owned domestic airliners can review fuel surcharge, if fuel price increases or decreases by at least Rs 4 per liter. The revised price fuel surcharge, however, should come into effect after 72 hours. The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had reduced ATF price by Rs 10 per litre to Rs 94.50 on Thursday, on its anniversary day.
The surcharge reduction applies to the normal fare which is high but the airliners have been also selling tickets at cheaper rates at present too. According to spokesperson for AOAN Ghanashyam Acharya, on the basis of revised fuel surcharge, tickets for mountain flights will now cost Rs 11,300 from Kathmandu. "Similarly, flights to Pokhara, Bharatpur, Biratnagar, Janakpur, and Simara from Kathmandu will costs Rs 5,050, Rs 3,650, Rs 7,550, Rs 4,300, and Rs 3,120 respectively."
Likewise, airfares to Bhairahawa, Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj, Bhadrapur and Tumlingtar from Kathmandu will be Rs 6,200, Rs 12,650, Rs 10,000, Rs 9,100, and Rs 6,000 respectively.
Airlines operators had increased airfare last August, when the NOC had increased ATF price. Then the domestic carriers raised the fuel surcharge from Rs 40 to Rs 200 when NOC had increased the price of aviation fuel by Rs 4.50 per litre to Rs 104.50 per litre.
According to the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA), Nepali skies saw 246 domestic flights daily on average.

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