International airlines felicitate NAC for better ground handling

International airlines felicitated Nepal Airlines for its efficient ground handling at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA).

Some 10 international airlines today awarded the ailing national flag carrier for its better ground handling at the only international airport.

The second annual general meeting of the Airlines Operators' Committee, Nepal, has facilitated the Nepal Airlines that has been remaining afloat only due to ground handling as it has no aircraft to expand its routes and increase flight frequency.

Qatar Air, China Southers, Etihad, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Oman Air, Air Arabia, Dragon Air, Thai Airways and Korean Air have recognised the NAC for its service.

Airport closes again, fourth time in a month, second time in a week

The only international airport in the country has closed its services temporarily today afternoon, again, after a pothole was detected – for the fourth time within a month – on a section of its runway.

The Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) – the gateway for the land locked Nepal to the outer world – was closed for half an hour from 2 pm. The airport closure for the patch up work of the pothole in the intersection C and D of the runway has forced Royal Bhutan flight to divert back to Paro, whereas China Eastern Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India were held in the sky and the scheduled Thai Airways flight from Kathmandu – along with around half dozen domestic flights – was delayed.
It is the second time this week the TIA saw damages on the runway. On Sunday also it had to stop flights operation for about 45 minutes after cracks were reported on the runway.
The repeated problem of crack at the runaway – which smells of a huge corruption – has not only tarnished the image of Nepal but also is going to hit the visitor arrivals during the nearing tourist season, and airlock the country closing it to the outer world.

The TIA maintenance is a temporary solution as the tarmac needs a full-fledged renovation as the more than four-decade long runaway needs a complete renovation as the number of aircraft landing at the airport has tripled –  with some aircraft weighing more than 300 tonnes including  passenger, cargo and fuel – and changing weather patters in the last five years. “The problem will reappear anytime as the current maintenance is the temporary solution only,” according to the TIA officials.

Though, the TIA has deployed a rapid action team to maintain immediately as and when the potholes reappear, the repeated disturbance of scheduled flights is not only going to hit the tourism sector but also economy hard.

NAC ‘operation mouse search’ continues

The search for a mouse in the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) aircraft — Boeing 757 — is still on.
“Today, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Corporation (Haeco) that has been looking after the aircraft in Hong Kong did fogging to trap the mouse,” deputy managing director of the corporation Raju Bahadur KC, said, adding that the mouse, however, could not be trapped.
They will again try tomorrow first by fogging and if it does not work by using pesticides,” he added.
Fogging is a procedure that creates fog like situation inside the air tight aircraft to trap any living beings.
The ailing national carrier has incurred Rs 20 million revenue loss due to the mouse in the last four days.
Though NAC resumed its flight to Kuala Lumpur on September 5 after getting clearance, another mouse appeared in the cockpit, while it was in Hongkong.
“Before we resumed our flights Monday night we had confirmed a total security check up of the plane,” he said, adding that on Tuesday, however, another mouse appeared in the cockpit while the flight was ready for its regular flight from Hong Kong, where it is under the surveillance of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Corporation (Haeco).
“We will not fly the aircraft until we confirm the security of the passengers as safety is our priority,” KC said, adding that due to flight cancellation, the corporation is bearing a loss of over Rs 8 million every day.
The flight to Bangkok was cancelled on Sunday immediately after the air hostess spotted a mouse in the aircraft. The 9am flight to Bangkok on Monday had 127 passengers who were later taken by Thai Airways to Bangkok whereas after total confirmation and security check-up NAC resumed its flight to Kuala Lumpur at 11:30pm with 190 passengers.
The national flag carrier presently has only two aircraft with it. Among the two, one is in Israel since August 28 for its regular C check and will start its flight after September 18.
According to Nepal Airlines Corporation, NAC is not the only airlines in which a mouse was spotted but there are many such incidents in the international market of airlines.

Indians more intent on travelling to newer destinations

The Indian leisure traveller is now more open to exploring newer destinations, reveals the latest edition of the Nielsen India Outbound Monitor.
A study done by the Nielsen Company in association with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), shows that destinations such as China, Maldives, Indonesia, the African continent and even neighbouring Bangladesh, have witnessed an increase in interest amongst Indian travellers as destinations they plan to visit in the future.
While on the current list of most visited destinations, Singapore remains the top destination for both, the business and leisure traveller, but its dominance has diminished since 2008.
“The diversification in destinations indicates a greater sense of adventurism and discovery that should be heartening for tourism as a whole, and a clear symptom of a confident Indian consumer mimicking their country’s confidence and prominence," Surekha Poddar, executive director, The Nielsen Company, said, adding that the Indian traveller is set to become a prized possession as potential spending power and disposition to travel to new countries increases.
In terms of trips taken in the last year, Singapore’s share based on travellers indicating their most recent trip taken, has reduced to 24 per cent from 32 per cent in 2008. Similarly, for business travel its share has fallen from 25 per cent in 2008 to 15 per cent in 2010. Malaysia ranks second for leisure travel and Dubai for business travel.
Countries that have shown a rise in business traffic from India include Japan, China, and Sri Lanka. On the whole, Asian countries account for 76 per cent of leisure travel by Indians and 63 per cent for business travel. Regions such as Europe attract a higher percentage of business traffic (14 per cent) rather than leisure (10 per cent).
The top reasons which drive destination choice for leisure travellers are visiting friends/ relatives (26 per cent), range of leisure and entertainment activities (18 per cent), and scenic/natural beauty of the destination (10 per cent).
Visiting friends/ relatives is the most cited reason for older travellers and their destinations largely tend to be USA and the UK. The corporate segment which forms the bulk of business travellers, choose destinations based on perceived business conduciveness for conferences and off-sites.
“Countries competing for Indian globetrotters can take definitive cues from the drivers of destination decision-making. By showcasing their receptivity to visitors and a variety of recreational facilities ‘country’ marketers can hope to become the destination of choice,” said Poddar.
Among places that leisure travellers plan to travel to, there seems to be a significant shift to newer destinations such as China, Indonesia and Africa, amongst others. While most outbound travellers from India belong to the affluent, well educated segment of urban India, there are some differences in the profile of travelers based on the size of the town or city.
With the growth of India as a source market for the travel industry, there is an increasingly greater focus on targeting the Indian traveller. One of the most critical observations is that the Indian traveller is not a homogenous entity. Apart from the natural segments of those travelling for business or leisure, there are key sub-segments across tiers of towns and different life stages and work profile. Travel motivations also differ in each of these sub-segments as do their planning and their choices,” added Poddar.
The Indian traveller remains as value conscious as ever. With growing choices at home, Indians have not really expanded their travel budgets. Overall, travel expenditure has remained the same as 2008 among leisure travelers. Business travellers have however, seen a significant reduction in overall trip expenses.
According to the study, the average trip cost for the entire family is around $3663. As the average group comprises two travellers, it works out to $1645 per traveller. Flight and accommodation account for around 45 per cent of costs and the rest is available for the traveller to apportion across other expenses like shopping, food, recreational/ sightseeing activities and communication. Of the discretionary spend, shopping gets the lion’s share and outbound tourists spend $1,000 on an average on shopping, per family.
Thai Airways emerged as the top airline among leisure travellers in terms of customer satisfaction followed by Jet Airways and Malaysia Airlines. For business travellers, Singapore Airlines tops the list, followed by Emirates and Malaysia Airlines.

The travel agents
KATHMANDU: For travellers booking via travel agents, small local travel agents combined account for a little over a quarter of all bookings. Among the Indian players, the Online Travel Agents (OTAs), Yatra and Make My Trip, and travel agencies SOTC and Thomas Cook together, account for the bulk of bookings. Leisure travellers who booked through SOTC gave it the highest satisfaction ratings while business travelers said they preferred booking through Thomas Cook the most.