Nepalgunj, January 4

Nepalgunj Airport has been witnessing a sharp rise in the number of passengers as the winter cold has rendered travel by road difficult.

According to Nepalgunj Airport Chief Premnath Thakur, up to 1,500 persons travel by air to and from Nepalgunj every day and the airport is having a hard time catering to the increasing number of passengers. “As traveling by land takes longer and is difficult, particularly in this cold, people have been attracted to air travel,” said Thakur.

“More people are opting for air travel in recent years with their income level going up, and now that it’s too cold, people who would otherwise travel by bus have turned to flights,” said Shreeram Sigdel, managing director of Nepalgunj Holiday. Sigdel said low air fare had also lured people to opt for air travel. “We used to have disruption of flights in the past during the winter, but this year we’ve had such disruptions only for two days, so far,” said Thakur.