Kathmandu, Aug 30
The government's
liberal step to allow the commercial flights to conduct scheduled flights
instead of chartered ones has cost the passengers almost double of the regular
fare.
Meanwhile, migrant
workers in the Gulf countries are being forced to buy the air tickets back to
their country in the black market.
Nepali migrants in
Dubai said that it was hard to get tickets as the seats were limited and the number
of people wanting to return to the home country was astonishingly high. Nepali
workers who were already disappointed with the high charge on airfare have been
encountered with a new menace of ticket shortage.
"Some of my
friends were asked Rs. 80,000 to Rs, 85,000 for the one-way travel to return
home while some are ready to pay up to Rs. 100,000 since tickets are scarce.
Some travel companies are selling tickets at higher rates," said Tikaram
Dhakal, manager in a company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The average rate
for one-way travel is about Rs. 69,000 which is much higher compared to the
chartered flights which operated earlier. The per passenger ticketing rate for
the scheduled flight was US $390 (Rs. 46,400) to UAE.
A travel agent in
Kathmandu urging for the anonymity said to The Rising Nepal that the airlines
were selling the business class tickets only and charging the high travel fare.
"You don't
find the economy class tickets which means the passengers have to pay about Rs.
69,000 for the travel," he said. "We are making calls to Dubai and
other destinations for the price while Nepalis there are calling us as the last
resort to get the tickets."
According to him,
plus 5,000 can be a norm due to the higher demand and less supply.
The main reason
behind this mayhem is the Cabinet decision to bring in only 500 passengers to
the country. Therefore, though the government has opened the scheduled flight
from August 31, the jetliners have got about a flight to Kathmandu in a week.
According to the
estimates of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) and
Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, about 150,000 Nepalis are
willing to come to the country from different foreign nations, especially the
Gulf.
Suresh Acharya,
Joint Secretary and Information Officer of the MoCTCA, said that the government
had given permission to the scheduled flights in order to ease the market,
maintain transparency and facilitate the travellers.
Another benefit of
the scheduled flight is that the travel agencies will also get the business.
The government
can't force any airlines company in terms of the airfare, they are free to
charge the rate as per the supply and demand situation. The airlines have
grabbed the opportunity and selling the higher-class tickets only.
Acharya said that
there was a fault in the part of the service provider in terms of setting the
airfare. However, there is no law to monitor the international travel fare.
Meanwhile, the
MoCTCA is taking a proposal to the Cabinet to increase the number of Nepalis to
be brought to the country to at least 1000 for the initial period and further
as per the situation.
"Since we are
bringing those people who test negative to the COVID-19 test, there wouldn't be
pressure in the quarantine camps as the passengers can be sent directly for the
home-quarentine," said Acharya.
The flights are
opened for the Nepali citizens abroad, staff and officials of the diplomatic
agencies and development partners and the United Nations agencies. The
government has given permission to the staff, representative of 33 agencies and
ogranisations and their families. It includes the agencies like the World Bank,
Asian Development Bank, USAID, GIZ, International Labour Organisation and
Unicef. All foreign nationals arriving Nepal should go for a mandatory 7-days
quarantine in a hotel.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 August 2020.
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