Air Arabia asked to refund passengers' money

 Kathmandu, Sept. 2

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has directed the Air Arabia to refund the money that it charged to the passengers inbound to Nepal from the United Arab Emirates.

The airlines was asked to return 142 passengers' money that it collected them under the heading of quarantine which it did not pay to the hotels in Kathmandu.

It had brought 161 passengers from Sharjah of the UAE on August 25 and kept them in the hotel quarantine. But it did not paid the hotel bills incurred but the passengers paid the money by themselves even though they had already paid it to the airlines.

The passengers included 142 having the PCR test and 18 having RDT while one had boarded the plane without having the either test. The government had not allowed the airlines to carry the passengers without PCR test. 

The airlines had sent all passengers to the quarantine.

The ministry had received a compliant that Air Arabia had raised the money for the hotel stay but the bills were settled by the passengers.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai directed the concerned agencies to get the money from the company and return it to the passengers.

Speaking at a meeting held at the ministry on Wednesday to discuss the air fare of the scheduled flights and compliant about the chartered flights, he directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to monitor the fare and intervene if needed.

"Give approval to the foreign airlines to fly to and from Kathmandu at the fare rate set by the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) for the destinations where the NAC and Himalaya Airlines were operating the flight service," the minister directed the CAAN.

The ministry had been continuously receiving the complaint that the airlines were charging exorbitant airfare from the Gulf to Kathmandu. Since the quota of passengers who can fly to Kathmandu is limited, some travel agencies are selling the tickets in black.

In order to address the grievances related to the high rates of tickets and black marketing, the ministry had said that the respective airlines companies must control the airfare. It has also planning to urge the foreign diplomatic missions and Non-Resident Nepalese Association (NRNA) as well.

The meeting has also decided to allow the airlines to operate the flight services only after ensuring the reasonable fare as set by the ministry and not to charge illegally high money to the passengers. It also decided to budget airlines should fly the passengers at lower rates than the other airlines.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 3 September 2020.