And the airline companies have been only too happy to comply: to meet the demand, companies have, over the last few months, increased the number of flights between Pokhara and Jomsom, the start-off point for the onward journey to Muktinath, and also between Kathmandu and Pokhara, the drop-off point for many Indians arriving in Nepal.
Ailine operators say that they have added extra flights to the Kathmandu-Pokhara sector because their regular flights were not enough to cater to the increased number of Indian pilgrims heading to Muktinath, one of the more popular temples in the country.
Yeti Airlines and Sita Air, which operate flights in the Kathmandu-Pokhara as well as Pokhara-Jomsom sectors, have added five more daily flights to Jomsom from Pokhara, says Narendra Bahadur Thapa, chief of Pokhara Airport.
That´s a substantive increase to their earlier schedules. In the past, companies used to operate just one flight to Jomsom from Pokhara. “Even two flights a day used to be a rarity. But now, even with the number of daily flights to Jomsom increased to such levels, the flights are still packed,” says Thapa.
Indeed the demand is such that despite the increase in the number of flights, say operators, a substantial number of pilgrims, cannot get a hold of air tickets and have to travel to Muktinath on sports utility vehicles.
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