KATHMANDU, Jan 27: National flag carrier Nepal Airlines has announced a special offer on its flight to Bangkok of Thailand. Under the scheme announced on Thursday, it will offer roundtrip ticket at Rs 12,000 on the Kathmandu-Bangkok sector, exclusive of applicable taxes.
After including all applicable taxes, the roundtrip airfare to Bangkok from Kathmandu will cost approximately Rs 26,000, according to officials of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).
The airfare is lower than that offered by any other airline at the moment.
Under the scheme, Nepal Airlines will also offer one free ticket on the purchase of five roundtrip tickets in the sector.
Nepal Airlines has been operating three flights a week to Bangkok from Kathmandu -- on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
NAC announces discount scheme on international flight
Nawaraj Koirala, deputy spokesperson of the NAC, told Republica that the offer will last till March end.
By introducing the promotional offer, the airlines aims at tapping into the growing number of Nepali vacation and holiday travelers, particularly to low-cost destinations like Thailand.
“We hope that the new offer at a time when Bangkok is a preferred destination for Nepali travelers for holiday will become a boon,” said Koirala.
Under the offer, the airlines will allow 30-kg free baggage, and serve meal of five-star standard.
“Most of the budget carriers only allow hand baggage and no meal for the fliers. We will offer five-star standard meal and 30-kg free baggage at the cheapest airfare,” he added.
According to Koirala, the NAC used to charge up to Rs 33,000 for each roundtrip ticket during the peak season.
The promotional offer is also expected to increase competition among the airlines that operate flights on the Bangkok-Kathmandu sector.
Outbound Nepali travelers have spent a total of $362.1million over the first five months of the current Fiscal Year 2018/19, up by 25.3 percent from the corresponding period of FY2017/18.
Meanwhile, worried over the depletion in foreign exchange reserve, the Nepal Rastra Bank has introduced some foreign currency controls for Nepali travelers.
Earlier in November, the NRB lowered the foreign exchange limit to US$1,500 for Nepali nationals traveling abroad for leisure, private visit or tourism purpose, down from the earlier limit of $2,500.
The forex reserve of the country dipped by $79 million, or 7.9 percent, in first five months of the current Fiscal Year 2018/19. As of mid-December last year, the country's total forex reserve stands at $9.29 billion, down from $10.08 billion in mid-July.
