The suspension of all flights by Jet Airways this week has been both a curse and a boon for Nepal. The Indian private airline carried the largest number of passengers to and from the country till last year, many of them tourists.
Jet Airways operated 35 flights a week out of Kathmandu to Delhi and Mumbai with many of the Nepali passengers connecting to Gulf destinations, and tourists on to Europe and North America. The Airline’s collapse coincided with Nepal’s spring tourist season, and many passengers either cancelled their holidays or had to be rerouted on other airlines.
Nepal Airlines that had overtaken Jet to be the top carrier to and from Nepal last year after the expansion of its fleet with four new Airbus aircraft stands to gain the most from Jet’s departure. It currently has 11 flights a week to Delhi and has announced it will add three more by 1 May.
Nepal Airlines also operates flights to Mumbai and Bengaluru in India, and is increasing flight frequency by one each per week to those cities. Nepal Airlines competed directly with Jet for Nepali overseas workers flying between Kathmandu and Persian Gulf cities.
In 2017 Jet carried 469,301 passengers to and from Nepal, and this had dropped to 450,949 last year, and the number of passengers had started dropping every month in the first half of 2019.
In 2018, Jet Airways carried 10% of the 4.42 million passengers to and from Nepal. Suman Pandey of President Travels says: “Jet was carrying a lot of European tourism to Nepal, as well as visitors from India. Stopping flights at the height of the tourist season can make it difficult for tourists to get seats.”
