Direct flight to Europe from Nepal suspended

Direct flight to Europe from Nepal suspended
Xinhua, 17-May-07

Austrian Airlines, the only airlines that directly links Nepal with Europe suspends its regular schedule flight from Thursday, local newspaper The Rising Nepal reported Thursday.

Austrian Airlines had taken this decision months ago mainly due to negative rate of return from Vienna-Kathmandu flight.

According to Bharat Basnet, general sales agent of Austrian Airlines to Nepal,
relatively higher price of aviation fuel, landing costs and other charges were responsible for the rise in the cost of operation in this sector.

The suspension of flights would cost more to Nepalese tourism industry, said Basnet while adding "It will have a multiplier plus multi-pronged effects."

Meanwhile, not only is the Nepal Airlines Corporation losing its regular income of nearly 12,000 U.S. dollars from ground-handling service at the moment, this would also cost the government and Nepali Oil Corporation substantial amount of revenue from sales and taxes.

More importantly, the country will lose the quality tourists from the United States of America (USA) and central European countries, said Basnet.

Meanwhile, the tourism entrepreneurs and hoteliers also opined that the suspension of Austrian Airlines flights was a great setback to Nepal's tourism industry.