Kathmandu, April 6

The country’s national flag carrier has been flying to various international destinations with an average seat occupancy of 77.6 per cent, according to Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC).

Commenting on rumours that Nepal Airlines has been operating international flights with low seat occupancy, NAC General Manager Sugat Ratna Kansakar said that every international flight of Nepal Airlines has the optimum number of passengers.

“The average seat occupancy of nearly 80 per cent in every international flight is noteworthy. The seat occupancy is bound to increase in the future with the boost in the country’s tourism industry,” said Kansakar.

Currently, Nepal Airlines is operating international flights to eight destinations with three aircraft — one Boeing 757-200 and two narrow-body Airbus planes. At present, Nepal Airlines has scheduled flights to New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Kathmandu.

According to statistics maintained by the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines’ average seat occupancy in the last six months to Doha and Hong Kong stood at 85.8 per cent and 78.05 per cent, respectively. Similarly, Nepal Airlines flew to Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi with average seat occupancy of 75.77 per cent and 80.13 per cent, respectively in the last six months.

Similarly, NAC’s data shows that its flights to Mumbai and Dubai recorded average seat occupancy of 65.48 per cent and 76.4 per cent, respectively over the last six months. Likewise, Nepal Airlines has been flying to Bangalore and Bangkok with average seat occupancy of 80 per cent each.

However, Kansakar informed that Nepal Airlines’ seat occupancy has been affected time and again due to unhealthy competition in airfare among other airlines.

Kansakar also said that Nepal Airlines will gradually promote itself as the best airline among air travellers by diversifying its services.

Though NAC has limited aircraft for international flights, it is in the process of adding two wide-body aircraft to its fleet soon.

Once these new wide-body aircraft are added to its fleet, NAC plans to conduct direct flights to Saudi Arabia, Korea and Japan, informed Kansakar.