Nepalgunj. Buddha Air’s Nepalgunj-Pokhara-Nepalgunj flight which has been operating for the past five years has been suspended.

According to Binit Bikram Shah, chief of Buddha Air Nepalgunj station, the direct flight from Pokhara to Nepalgunj has been suspended for a month due to low number of religious tourists coming from India and high fuel cost.

According to him, the Nepalgunj-Pokhara flight has been suspended for a few months due to the lack of Indian tourists coming from India due to the month-long Malmas and the high price of fuel. Nepalgunj-Pokhara flight has been operated thrice a week since August 1, 2021 to promote tourism and facilitate Indian passengers. The flight has been suspended since Tuesday.

Passengers, tourism entrepreneurs and the general public in western Nepal have been disappointed with the cancellation of direct flights from Nepalgunj to Pokhara. With the suspension of flights, passengers are now compelled to travel at least 14 hours by road. The service was launched at the initiative of Association of Tours and Travel Agents (NATTA) Nepalgunj.

NATTA Nepalgunj Founding Chairperson Shreeram Sigdel said that the flight was uncertain as it was the official information that the Buddha Air had stopped the flight as per the schedule. According to him, the work that the government should have done was done at the initiative of the private sector but it was on the verge of being shut down as the government failed to take the initiative. With the suspension of direct flights that could have reached Pokhara in 35 minutes, passengers are once again compelled to depend on long and arduous road journeys. Buddha Air has been operating Kraft 1900 D series aircraft with a capacity of 18 seats.

There was a lot of enthusiasm in the tourism sector when the flight came into operation. It was easier to reach the tourist destinations like Bardiya National Park, Karnali, Chisapani and Rara from Pokhara while tourists coming from Lucknow, Kanpur and Delhi of India had to travel to Pokhara easily. When the flight started, the minimum fare was fixed at Rs 4,935 to Rs 7,635.

There was a plan to expand the number of passengers to daily flights if the number of passengers increased. Buddha Air Nepalgunj has said that the flight has been suspended due to the decrease in the number of passengers due to the change in the fuel price of Nepalgunj.