Domestic flights which had been halted by the government during the prohibitory order to stop the spread of the second wave of the coronavirus in Nepal will resume operations from today. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has given permission to resume a limited number of domestic flights from today based on the decision of the Council of Ministers.
However, the ministry has allowed only 50 per cent of the flights compared to the number of flights that used to operate prior to the restrictions to operate. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)has published the flight schedule whereby only 64 domestic flights will be allowed to operate daily.
The schedule has been prepared in a manner that the maximum number of domestic flights that will be allowed to operate on a daily basis has been limited to 67. The domestic flights will operate from 6 am till 6 pm.
According to CAAN, Buddha Air will conduct 31 flights every day from Kathmandu whereas Yeti Airlines will operate 15 flights. Similarly, Shree Airlines will conduct 10 flights and Saurya Airlines has been given permission to operate three domestic flights daily.
In the initial phase the abovementioned four airline companies will conduct flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Biratnagar, Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Bhairahawa, Bharatpur, Simara, Janakpur, Tumlingtar and Bhadrapur.
As per the schedule published by CAAN, there will be 10 daily flights to Biratnagar from Kathmandu. Likewise, permission has been granted for nine flights to Bhairahawa, and seven flights each to Nepalgunj and Bhadrapur every day. Meanwhile, there will be six daily flights each to Simara and Janakpur, and five flights to Pokhara. CAAN has allowed four daily flights to Dhangadhi.
Similarly, CAAN has given permission for eight daily flights to remote areas like Lukla, Phaplu, Taplejung and Bhojpur, among others.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has mentioned that all airlines and passengers must follow the health safety protocols that have been set by the government.
