How satisfied are you with the business in the Kathmandu sector over the past six months?
We are very much satisfied. Our aircraft is one of the biggest planes that operate flight on the Kathmandu sector. We are immediately starting two-way traffic so that many people will come to the Nepali capital.
Are you trying to say that the number of passengers coming to Kathmandu is low compared to those who are flying to Kuala Lumpur?
We have a big task of selling Kathmandu not just amongst Malayasian but also in Indonesia and other parts of South East Asia. The volume is increasing slowly. This time we have brought a group of journalists whose write ups will definitely help in the promotion of Nepal. Nepal is still a new destination for South East Asia. We have a big task to create demand for Nepal. But the good news is that Nepal has wonderful tourism products in terms of culture as well as nature. One of the unique things about Air Asia is we are focused on creating the market whereas traditional airlines wait for passengers. We have doubled our passenger volume in three-year period wherever we are operating.
Do you mean to say that your focus will be more on tourists?
Within a year, we want to achieve 50/50 balance between tourist and labor traffic. AirAsia is a well known brand across Asia and tourists from our other destinations can come to Kathmandu via Kuala Lumpur. We have connected Kuala Lumpur to 30 new cities. Although we are not the first in case of Kathmandu, there have never been meaningful campaigns to attract tourists to Nepal. The labor market is a huge market to rely upon, but we will be focused on bringing more tourists to Nepal. We are happy to be working with Incentive Tours and Travels as they are well experienced on developing tour packages in Nepal.
This is a rumor that you are not happy with your current GSA and considering to appoint a new one?
It is completely untrue. We are very thrilled with our current partnership. I have developed a personal bond with Hari Man Lama (Chairman of Incentive Tours and Travels) and when you have personal bond it takes business to a different level.
Would you like to share your target for 2013 in Kuala Lumpur-Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur segment?
If you compare first 12 months of operation, our target is to double the volume next year. We know there is tremendous potential and we are hopeful to meet our target. We started with two aircraft and increased it to three in a short time. I am thinking to add fourth frequency by first half of next year. When we talk about our frequency, we are talking about additional 370 seats which can not be compared with other airlines operating in Nepal.
What are the challenges of operating flights to Nepal?
The first part is the location as pilots need special training to operate flights to Kathmandu. We have 20 pilots trained specially for this location. There is a need of proper airport infrastructure, more facilities in check-in, parking base and so on. From my experience, I can say that installing better air traffic control system can be very beneficial as this way you can have many slots. We want to fly during daytime as well as in nighttime, but the slots are not available as per the requirement. Adding new runway is costlier but installing new computer system is cost effective as well as easier.
What kind of activities are you carrying out in Nepal as the part of you CSR?
We are working on the concept of responsible tourism so that the locals need not suffer from negatives impacts of over commercialization of tourism. As part of our CSR, we distributed laptops to a local school in Lalitpur. This is our small gesture but we hope it will be an important move to connect the future generation of Nepal to the world.
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