Foreign int’l airlines required to charge same airfare as Nepali int’l airlines

KATHMANDU, Sept 3: The government has said that foreign international airlines are required to charge the same airfare as Nepali international airlines for regular commercial flights.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the aviation regulatory body, to direct all foreign international airlines to prepare an identical airfare to the airfare set by Nepali international airlines. The airlines will have to set the ticket price taking the airfare of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Himalaya Airlines as reference. It will be applicable to sectors where these airlines are already flying.

The decision comes amid the criticism of passengers that the airfare currently is far more high compared to the airfare for scheduled commercial flights in the past. The ministry has said that international airlines will be permitted to fly to and from Nepal only if they maintain their airfare as per the ministry’s list. Budget airlines will be allowed to operate flights with lower airfare than other airlines.

CAAN will also instruct the airlines concerned not to get involved in black marketing of tickets, violate transparency and carry out other illegal activities while collecting fares for flights. The government has asked Nepali diplomatic missions abroad to implement, facilitate and monitor such activities while flights are operated from these destinations.

The ministry has also asked Air Arabia to refund the amount collected for hotel quarantine of 142 passengers who had arrived in Nepal on August 25. A task force was formed to probe the alleged carelessness by Air Arabia while conducting a repatriation flight from Sharjah after complaints were registered by the passengers. The passengers had complained that the airline company allowed a few passengers to board the plane even though they failed to produce a PCR negative test report.

Meanwhile, NAC has revised its airfare after it was criticized for its expensive airfare. Issuing a statement, the company said that airline companies are categorized into different classes while determining the airfare for regular flights. “NAC has also considered different variables while determining the range of airfares for these flights,” it said.  

The national flag carrier has said that the ticket prices are inclusive of taxes and has requested its passengers not to pay more than what is listed above. The NAC has said that the airfare might see slight changes depending on the number of flights, passengers and the number of seats in classified classes.