Nepal’s domestic carriers affected by Spicejet’s low cost flights

PRASHANT ACHARYA, EOI, Siliguri, 14 Sep 2014: The launch of Kathmandu-Bagdogra flights on August 13 by India’s budget carrier SpiceJet has affected the occupancy of Nepal’s domestic carriers catering to the Kathmandu-Bhadrapur sector. Nepal-based Airlines sources said the promotional fare offered by SpiceJet on the sector had taken away at least 30 percent of their loyal customers.

Bagdogra Airport located in Darjeeling district serves as a base airport for tourists and other travellers visiting the Hills and Sikkim. As the new service has provided an easy hop for travellers from Nepal to Siliguri, Darjeeling or Sikkim, besides convenient connections to Kolkata, occupancy on domestic airlines has dropped significantly.

Airline officials said that 60-70 percent of the passengers on their Bhadrapur (Nepal) service are bound for Siliguri, Darjeeling or Sikkim. However, Rupesh Joshi, senior executive manager at Buddha Air, said that SpiceJet’s Bagdogra-Kathmandu flight has affected only 20 percent of the occupancy of domestic carriers and only on inbound flights. “As the flight time of SpiceJet is not convenient for outbound travellers, it has not affected the Kathmandu-Bhadrapur occupancy.”

The Spicejet flight departs at 4:05 pm from Kathmandu and reaches Bagdogra at 4:45 pm. The airline received more than 5,200 bookings within a week of the launch of its service.