Bharatpur Flights up Due to Landslides

July 4: The pathetic condition of Mugling-Narayanghat road section has resulted in the rise in number of flights to Bharatpur airport. With the onset of monsoon, the road section which is undergoing construction for widening into two lanes poses high risk of landslides. This has made the commuters opt for air route.

Private airlines companies including Buddha Air, Yeti Airlines and Simrik Air have been providing additional flights to meet the demands of the passengers.

Earlier, Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines used to have three regular flights to Bharatput. But now, they have up to nine flights per day.

According to Bharatpur airport, altogether 9212 passengers opted for flights to travel to and from Bharatpur to Kathmandu in the month of May. In June, 9282 people took flights to and from the airport.

Yeti Airlines’ branch manager  Rajesh Singh said that problem arises when the passengers do not get the tickets. “When the temperature goes down, we can adjust passengers for full flight. But when the temperature goes up, we have to reduce the number of passengers,” he said.

The airport chief Pawan Kumar Gautam informed that the number of passengers has increased as compared to the previous month.

Yeti Airlines can accommodate up to 30 persons per flight while the carrying capacity of Buddha Air is between 47 to 82.

Sandeep Kumar Shrestha, a local of Bharatpur, says that he was forced to take a flight because of the poor condition of the Mugling-Narayanghat road section.

“If I don’t reach Kathmandu on time, I will miss my exams. But I haven’t got the ticket since the last five days,” he laments.

The air passengers have been suffering as the tickets have been booked since over a week. The ticketing problem has also affected the tourists who had come to visit Sauraha and Chitwan National Park.

“The Mugling-Narayanghat road section has caused more damage than the earthquake,” said Regional Hotel Association, Sauraha’s President Suman Ghimire.