Airlines record 10% growth in air tickets sale

KATHMANDU, May 27: Domestic airlines reported more than 10 percent growth in air tickets sale over the past three months starting February, compared to figures of the same period of last year. They had recorded 2 percent growth in February-April, 2011 compared to the same period of 2010.



Airlines operators said they managed to post whopping growth as more people preferred air travel over surface transport due to frequent transport strikes and increasing purchasing capacity among others. [break]Rise in the number of foreign tourists visiting the country is the other reason contributing the growth.



Leading domestic carrier Buddha Air posted growth of more than 30 percent during the period, compared to last year. Rupesh Joshi, executive manager of Buddha, said the airline flew more than 75,000 passengers in March-April alone.



Another leading carrier, Yeti Airlines, also recorded positive growth during the period, despite rise in fuel surcharge. Pradeep Bikram Shah, director-sales and marketing at Yeti, said availability of cheaper tickets is one of the factors contributing the growth.



Domestic carriers had raised fuel surcharge in range of Rs 40 to Rs 180 per passengers (depending on routes) on February 27, Purna Chudal, chief of domestic airport division at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), number of air passengers increased by more than 10 percent over the last three months (ending April).



Rise in number of passengers, however, has not translated into revenue growth, according to the operators. "The demand for cheaper tickets is very high. Cheaper tickets are promotional tickets and they do not contribute much to the revenue," an official of a leading domestic carrier said.



Joshi said increment in the number of air passengers has been recorded mostly in Biratnagar, Bhadrapur, Nepalgunj and Pokhara sectors.



According to the operators, the share of foreigners in the total number of passengers is increasing in recent months, compared to a year ago. They said the contribution of foreign passengers this year is hovering around 20 percent of total passengers even during the lean period.



Domestic airlines flew 1.58 million passengers in 2011, an increment of 1.85 percent compared to 2010, according to TIA. However, the number of flights during the review year came down by 0.85 percent to 79,188, compared to 2010.

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