Kathmandu, June 13

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has reduced the airfare for repatriation flights, particularly from labour destinations.

Following widespread criticism over high ticket price for the repatriation flights, the airfare has been slashed by up to 20 per cent. In this regard, the ministry had held a meeting today with officials of Nepal Airlines Corporation and Himalaya Airlines.

According to the ministry, the new rate for Malaysia has been set at $372 per person while the previous airfare was $465 per person. Likewise, airfare for Doha has been reduced to $392 from $490.

Airfare for Dubai has been set at $360 per person, down from $450, while airfare for Saudi Arabia has been brought down to $430 from $530 for Dammam while for Riyadh airfare has been deducted to $465 from $565. Similarly for Jeddah, airfare has been reduced to $590 from $690 per person earlier.

For Oman, MoCTCA has set the airfare at $368 per person a drop from $460, whereas airfare for Bahrain has been reduced to $392 from $490. Similarly, new airfare for Kuwait is $410 per person. Prior to this, airfare for Kuwait was $510 per person.

Meanwhile, airfare to Jordan and Cyprus has been reduced to $675 and $730 respectively, from $775 and $830.

NAC has agreed to provide services at the airfare set by the government, while Himalaya Airlines has asked for additional time from MoCTCA for internal homework.

Starting from June 11 the government has been evacuating Nepalis stranded in several countries due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Earlier, the government had been criticised for exorbitant ticket prices for repatriation flights.

“Addressing the concerns of the public, the government has reduced airfare, especially for destinations where a large number of Nepalis are working,” added the statement issued by MoCTCA today. The government has scheduled 67 flights for repatriation, of which three from Kuwait have already been conducted.

The government has a target to bring a total of 24,148 Nepalis needing urgent rescue from 30 different destinations.

For repatriation, NAC is conducting 24 flights, Himalaya Airlines 19 and other foreign airline companies are conducting 24 flights.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 14, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.