Domestic flights to resume in hills, mountains
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 25
Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai has said that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is preparing to resume domestic flights from hilly and mountainous regions in the initial phase. Although the government had announced that flight operations would be resumed from September 1, domestic flights were unlikely to resume from the said date as a lockdown had been imposed in several districts to fight the increasing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At present, we will not be able to resume flights in the Tarai region. Hence, we are holding discussions with airline operators to resume flights from hilly and mountainous regions,” said Tourism Minister Bhattarai during a virtual meeting conducted today to publish MoCTCA’s annual report of the last fiscal year.
Bhattarai added that the ministry was preparing to resume domestic flights as the festive season was approaching.
“We will soon submit our proposal to resume flights in the domestic sector, except the Tarai region, to the Cabinet,” he said, “However, international flights will begin from September 1.”
Today, the government began the fifth phase of repatriation flights. On the very first day, 163 Nepalis were evacuated from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates via an Air Arabia flight.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 26, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.