Travel & Tourism

Regular flights between Surkhet and Kathmandu started on Friday, with an ATR-72 aircraft taking off from the airport of Karnali Province to the federal capital.

The Buddha Air's ATR-72 plane started flight on Kathmandu-Surkhet-Kathmandu route on Friday, according to Jagannath Niraula, spokesperson at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

CAAN signalled the green light for regular flights from the airport after successful test flights at the airport on November 16.

Seventy passengers, including CAAN officials, were on board the maiden flight from Surkhet to Kathmandu, according to Dipendra Kumar Karna, Buddha Air information officer.

The regular commercial flights to and from Surkhet are expected to further promote tourism in the province. “The regular flights at the airport would make the airfares on this route cheaper,” Niraula said.

One-way airfare between Kathmandu and Surkhet has been fixed at Rs14,000. The capacity of the airport has also been extended for the service, according to CAAN. 

While Shree Airlines had conducted a test flight at the Surkhet Airport before COVID-19 pandemic, flights on the route had been irregular. However, Anil Manandhar, manager of Shree Airlines, said a plan was afoot to resume regular flights soon. 

Yeti Airlines will also conduct a flight soon, said Sudarshan Bartaula, spokesperson for the airlines. 

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