NAC repatriates 158 Nepalis from B’desh

KATHMANDU, JUNE 14

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repatriated 158 Nepalis from Bangladesh today.

As per the Tribhuvan International Airport, all the passengers had their PCR report due to which they will be kept at holding centres of Kathmandu today and will be sent to their respective local units.

Then after local governments will keep them in quarantine.

Starting from June 11 the government has been evacuating Nepalis stranded in different countries due to the COVID-19. Prior to this, two flights from Kuwait have already been conducted.

Meanwhile, 18 Nepalis have returned from Afghanistan today in an initiative taken by the Afghanistan government itself. The government has a target to bring back more than 24,000 Nepalis from abroad.

Amid this, NAC has reduced its airfare for repatriation flights based on the government’s decision. As per the decision made during a meeting held with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), NAC has published the new reduced airfare today. The government has asked NAC to conduct 24 repatriation flights.

Issuing a statement today, the national flag carrier has stated that the airfare has been set without adding any extra charges. “No financial support has been made by any organisation for the repatriation flights. NAC itself is conducting flights based on the government’s decision.

Hence, the airfare has been set as per the flight cost only,” reads the statement.

The company has further claimed that the airfare has not included any extra charges of fuel, overflying, landing, aircraft handling, maintenance, among others. It has also published names of 15 contact persons for ticketing purposes in Bahrain, Maldives, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Kuwait, Cyprus, Oman, United States of America and Australia.

Meanwhile, NAC has cancelled the repatriation flight from Maldives that was scheduled for June 15.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 15, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.