Jet charts big plans for Kathmandu sector

Jet Airways, which started its second international operation by flying to Kathmandu on Friday, targets a third of the traffic on this sector. About 270,000 passengers travel on this sector annually.

Besides, the airline, which currently flies one flight between Delhi and Katmandu, plans to feed this market with additional aircraft as well as larger aircraft depending on the pick up of traffic in this route. It now operates 737-700s and 737-800s in the sector.

"We expect this sector to be a key sector for us. We hope to fly with a load factor of about 70 per cent," said Wolfgang Prock Schauer, chief executive, Jet Airways.

It is also expected that Jet Airways will approach the authorities in the two countries to expand the scope of their bilateral agreement from the present 12,000 passengers a week.

At preset, Jet Airways has the permission to carry 2,100 passengers a week. Besides, the airline will also look to add additional destinations in its route. "Now we operate from Delhi. We are looking at the viability of other hubs like Mumbai and Kolkata also," Schauer said.

According to Schauer, the airline expects the traffic to Kathmandu from India to be mainly destination oriented, with only 40 per cent of passengers looking for onward connectivity from Kathmandu.

As a part of the strategy to compete with Indian Airlines and Royal Nepal Airline, Jet Airways has also worked out a package of three nights and four days in Nepal for Rs 9,000 per person.

Jet Airways also claimed that it had a 46 per cent market share in the domestic market, which is pegged at 15 million passengers a year.

To promote the sector, Jet Airways has also tied up with Nepal Tourism Board. As a part of the plans, both the partners would jointly promote sector to take road-shows to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chandigarh to promote tourist inflow from India, which accounts for about 33 per cent of the total tourist traffic to Nepal.

In 2003, Nepal attracted 350,000 tourists, up 22 per cent from the previous year. It is however lower that the peak of 500,000 tourists in 1999, which came down considerably after Indian Airlines and Royal Nepal Airline suspended flights for five months following the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft.

In 2004, Nepal expects tourist inflow to be at 500,000 or above on account of the growing popularity of the mountain kingdom in the international tourist circuit.

(The correspondent's visit to Kathmandu was organised by Jet Airways.)