Cheap air tickets disappear, leaving Dashain travelers with costly options

Passengers leaving Kathmandu, the country’s capital, for Dashain are struggling to find affordable flights as minimum- and medium-fare tickets sell out on major routes, despite government efforts to ensure airlines offer cheaper fares

Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. File photo

KATHMANDU: Dhan Raj Rijal of the Oil Nigam area, located in Ward 5 of Biratnagar Metropolitan City, is making alternative plans to go home for Dashain after failing to get a plane ticket. Having planned to go home on October 15, he searched for tickets from airline companies at cheap, medium, and maximum rates of any kind. On that day, only a single flight schedule of Yeti Airlines from Kathmandu to Biratnagar is listed. However, because the seats are completely filled, Yeti Airlines is stating that tickets cannot be purchased.

After failing to get a ticket from any other airline company, Rijal is preparing to reserve a Scorpio vehicle. “I am consulting with five to seven friends, and reserving a Scorpio is almost certain,” he says, “The Scorpios seem to charge about Rs 35,000 in fare.”

Kshitij Basnet of Selfie Road of Pathari Shanishchare Municipality-2, of the district, is also searching for friends just like Rijal. He states that after searching for plane tickets for three to four days with zero results at the end, he has reached a situation where he has to travel home by vehicle. “Due to the recent rains, roads are broken and dilapidated in places, and I had thought I wouldn’t have to go by vehicle, but in the end, the compulsion to go by vehicle has fallen upon me,” he says.

Rijal and Basnet are representative figures who failed to get plane tickets to go home for Dashain. Since the day of Ghatasthapana, thousands have been searching for plane tickets. However, with tickets at any rate unavailable, passengers are seeking alternative measures. With tickets at maximum prices only available to some destinations, compounded by a lack of seats, anxiety has been added to the Dashain travel of passengers departing from Kathmandu.

Passengers departing from Kathmandu have been unable to secure tickets on air routes to major destinations since Ghatasthapana.

According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, complaints regarding exorbitant airfares have still not been addressed. With these complaints mounting, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadak Raj Paudel (Ganesh) called the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and airline operators for discussions on October 08, this year. Prime Minister Balendra Shah (Balen) himself had directed Minister Poudel to address these complaints in a timely manner.

During the discussion held at the Ministry in the presence of the Authority, airline companies had also reached an agreement. The agreement specified that ticket sales must remain below the maximum fare limit approved in the decision of December 12, 2016.”

Although the discussion held at the ministry raised expectations among passengers that cheap tickets would be available, it could not fulfill their needs. The decision appears limited to paper. Passengers departing from Kathmandu have not been able to get tickets on air routes to major destinations after Ghatasthapana. Even if limited tickets are available, they are not at minimum and medium prices but rather at expensive rates.

Information Officer of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Shobhakar Regmi says, “Complaints have come in writing that tickets are still expensive and tickets are not available. We will direct the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to arrange for tickets to be made available as cheaply as possible and whenever passengers want.”

Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. File photo

However, the situation does not look like tickets will be easily available during Dashain. No airline company has tickets at cheap fares. The available tickets are also not at minimum and medium prices. According to airline companies, tickets at approved fare rates have already been sold.

Since Ghatasthapana commenced, tickets at minimum and medium rates have ceased to be found. Expensive tickets are also available in limited quantities. Although airline companies pledged to sell tickets at minimum rates, passengers complain that only high-rate tickets are currently being sold. Saying that most tickets have already been booked, companies have stated that cheap tickets are not available. Some companies have even closed ticket bookings.

As passengers need to reach home on limited leave and celebrate festivals with their families, passengers want to reach their destinations as soon as possible. However, the difficulty in getting plane tickets at this very time and the high prices of available tickets have become an added misery for passengers.

Information regarding airfares released by the CAAN

Ticket bookings closed