The regular flights are set to return from the 1st of September. That’s the date, mark your calendar now. It has been more than five months since the regular flights were suspended in Nepal. Several news were out there regarding the resumption of the flights from past couple of months but Government of Nepal kept on extending the suspension and well, it has been over five months now. However, the chartered flights which were operated throughout the lockdown period has been able to bring back around 50000 stranded Nepalese from different parts of the world. The ticket prices were definitely high for those flights but there were not any option. Now that the regular flights are set to resume, the question here lies is it safe ?
Safety is the foremost thing any traveller wants during their journey. Now with the Global pandemic on our head, the best option to be safe is staying at home. However, if you are traveling then , Air travel could be the safest means of transportation in this period because unlike the local transportation airlines are fully prepared to operate a safe flight by following all the safety and health protocols. On top of that, only the passengers who submit the PCR negative test 72 hour prior to boarding are set to fly. Airlines has also prepared to maintain social distancing inside the airport during the boarding procedures and inside the aircraft as well, each and every health and safety measures will be strictly followed. As soon as you land to Tribhuwan International Airport , You need to prepare for another PCR test and you will be set for hotel quarantine for a week. So, there is no doubt that the air travel is one if the safest means of transportation in this pandemic but it is not the air travel that we should be worried about, it’s the destination.
Nepal is currently under a strict lockdown/shutdown. Kathmandu is the entry point of the passengers to Nepal traveling through the aircrafts. As of now, the capital has been suffering more than any other cities of Nepal. With over thousands of cases just over a month, Government has been forced to extend the lockdown till the 2nd of September.
As per the decision made by the concerned authorities, only two of the regular flights will be operated daily. Turkish Airlines, Malindo Air, Malaysian Airlines, and a couple more international airlines are ready to fly to Nepal. As per the decision made by the officials, the regular flights will bring the stranded Nepalese from different parts of the world. Many of them have published their flight schedules to Nepal. You can find the information regarding the flights in their official websites. The resumption of the regular flights will definitely be a kind of relief for the Nepalese who are eagerly waiting to get back to Nepal and the ticket prices are likely to be lower than the chartered flights as I have mentioned in my previous article.
Now the actual thing here is Tourism in Nepal. Will the resumption of the regular flights trigger tourism in Nepal? Hotels and Travel agents are at the edge of their survival while many has been shut down. Tourism is a very important part of Nepal and its economy. Now with resumption of the regular flights we can hope for the restart of tourism in Nepal. Hotels and Travel agents are already prepared with all the safety protocols and health measures, they are ready to welcome the tourists. The only thing that they are waiting for is to Government to open tourism in Nepal. While we talk about tourism in Nepal, all the visa related activities are currently on hold in Nepal. The visa on arrival is suspended as of now and decision will last until the next notice. Meanwhile, there is no decision regarding the restart of tourism as of now, we will have to wait for that.
For now, it is all about the 1 September 2020 as the regular flights resumes in Nepal after being suspended for more than five months.
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